Plan Participants Can Call a Toll-Free Number to Find Out Whether They are
On Track for Retirement
CHARLOTTE, N.C., Sept. 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Wachovia Retirement
Services, the institutional retirement business of Wachovia, today
announced that it is offering a free retirement consultation by phone to
any of the employees of the 6,400 companies for which Wachovia is the 401
(k) plan administrator. The new service for plan participants was
introduced the first week of September.
The consultation, which is accessed by calling a toll-free number, is
offered by Wachovia's retirement plan specialists who will engage in
conversations with participants to determine if they are (1) enrolled in
the plan and (2) on track to replace 80 percent of their pre-retirement
income at the time of retirement. Wachovia Retirement Services advocates
that employees try to contribute at least 6 percent of their pre-tax income
and invest appropriately for their time horizon to retirement to maximize
the potential to be "on track" for retirement.
"We must get Americans to focus on their retirement and to think
proactively about how much income they are on track to generate in their
retirement years," said Joe Ready, Executive Vice President and head of
Wachovia Retirement Services. "As numerous studies have shown, inertia or
plan complexity result in a lack of action, which results in participants
not reaching their required savings level. We believe that a live
retirement consultation will give participants a snapshot of what they need
to do to improve retirement income projections -- and this will, over time,
become a motivator for preparing for the future."
Wachovia conducted a pilot to determine the impact of a free retirement
consultation offering to Wachovia Retirement Services plan participants
during the month of June, and the results show most employees are not on
track to save for their retirement.
-- Of the 736 free retirement consultations offered, 43 percent
accepted the consultation (318).
-- Of those who accepted the consultation, only 8 percent were "on
track" to recreate 80 percent of their pre-retirement income; 92 percent
were "off track."
-- Forty percent took action and either enrolled, increased deferrals
or changed allocations.
"These are tough economic times, and people need access to cash for
day-to-day expenses," Ready said. "However, this pilot confirms for us that
people need help and want to talk to skilled retirement professionals about
actions they need to take to improve retirement outcome. From our
perspective, we are encouraged that almost half of the participants who
accepted the consultation proactively made changes to their plans."
At Wachovia, any customer or prospective customer who comes to a bank
branch or calls can obtain a free retirement consultation.
The information provided as part of the Retirement Consultation is for
educational purposes only and does not constitute investment, financial,
tax or legal advice.
About Wachovia Retirement Services
Wachovia Retirement Services is part of the Retirement and Investment
Products Group, a division of Wachovia's Capital Management Group. Wachovia
Retirement Services provides fully bundled defined contribution, defined
benefit and nonqualified retirement plans to both small and large
companies, unions and municipalities. More complete information about
Wachovia Retirement Services is accessible online at
http://wachovia.com/401k .
About Wachovia
Wachovia Corporation (NYSE: WB) is one of the nation's largest
diversified financial services companies, with assets of $812.4 billion and
market capitalization of $33.5 billion at June 30, 2008. Wachovia provides
a broad range of retail banking and brokerage, asset and wealth management,
and corporate and investment banking products and services to customers
through 3,300 retail financial centers in 21 states from Connecticut to
Florida and west to Texas and California, and nationwide retail brokerage,
mortgage lending and auto finance businesses. Globally, clients are served
in selected corporate and institutional sectors and through more than 40
international offices. Our retail brokerage operations under the Wachovia
Securities brand name manage more than $1.1 trillion in client assets
through 14,600 financial advisors in 1,500 offices nationwide. Online
banking is available at http://wachovia.com ; online brokerage products and
services at http://wachoviasec.com ; and investment products and services
at http://evergreeninvestments.com .
SOURCE Wachovia Corporation
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Related links:
http://wachovia.com/401k
http://wachovia.com http://wachoviasec.com
http://evergreeninvestments.com
CONTACT:
Amy H. Jones of Wachovia Corporation,
+1-704-383-4995
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