The cost of healthcare continues to steadily rise year over year. In an environment of escalating premiums, many employers are in search of alternatives to the status quo. Whether the solution is a lower cost plan or increased premium share with employees, decision makers are doing the best they can to retain employees and remain profitable.

Consumer directed health plans (CDHPs), paired with a health savings account (HSA) are trending higher among many employers with growth of 11.2% from 2017 to 2018. These plans with lower premium costs are coupled with a new philosophy which brings comparison shopping and savvy consumerism into the healthcare space. If healthcare consumers have “more skin in the game,” i.e. paying more of their out-of-pocket costs, they will shop around for the best deal on doctor visits, prescription medicines and more. It sounds good in theory, but does it really work? Some actuaries say yes.

Since the inception of the employer-employee relationship there has been employee turnover. Every employer knows that turnover is inevitable and have factored in the costs into the price of doing business.

One way to lengthen tenure among your workforce is an effective health and wealth strategy, which introduces a long-term partnership where both employers and employees are mutually invested in growing wealth and improving health through knowledge, savings and investing.

If your employees are like most other workers in the U.S., it is highly likely that they are not saving enough for retirement. In fact, studies show that among all generational groups, many people will need to work much longer than expected to make up for those shortfalls. Then there is the increasing cost of healthcare that can threaten your employees’ savings and keep them from reaching their financial goals.

How can employers help employees achieve their savings goals, both now and as they prepare for retirement? One answer may be to do more to provide the kinds of benefits — including HSAs and 401(k)s — that can help them save for healthcare and retirement. Here are three tips you can use as you approach your employees about saving for healthcare and retirement.

Companies moving from a SIMPLE IRA to a 401(k) plan are usually seeking some additional flexibility and have outgrown their current SIMPLE plan. The questions arise: What is a SIMPLE retirement plan? And how is it different from a 401(k)?

SIMPLE is an acronym for a Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees. There two SIMPLE plans, SIMPLE IRA and SIMPLE 401(k). Both are tax-deferred retirement plans provided by employers. The goal of a SIMPLE plan is similar to other retirement plans: to allow employees a simple way to save and invest money for retirement. We’ve outlined a few of the basics of SIMPLE and traditional 401(k) plans to highlight some important similarities and differences.

Have you ever had to endure a 401(k) Audit? For most plan sponsors, they are not a pleasant experience. We're not referring to being audited by the DOL or IRS, we're referring to the annual audit attached to Form 5500 that is required for “large plans”. Plan sponsors dread the annual audit because of the time, effort, energy, and cost required. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

In an effort to alleviate the pain caused by the annual 401(k) audit, we have prepared a few pieces of information that you should know about these audits. If you take advantage of even a couple of these, you will have a better experience moving forward.