Are Your Retirement Savings at Risk?

Conflicts of interest can take a bite out of retirement savings at any age. Getting retirement investment advice that is in your best interest is especially important for young people who may be switching jobs regularly and rolling over savings from a 401(k) into another plan or IRA each time. New rules from the Labor Department are helping ensure that if you pay someone for retirement advice, they are legally obligated to look out for you.

Retirement Investment Stories

Meet Philip and Carol Ashburn

They needed advice when Philip was offered an early retirement. They sought help from an adviser who told Philip to take a lump sum buyout and allow her to invest it. The advice was not in the Ashburn’s best interest, and cost them the retirement they had worked hard for. Listen to their story below or download the MP3.

Final Rule

FAQs: Conflicts of Interest Rulemaking
Fact Sheet: Final rule to protect retirement savings
Chart: Compare the proposed and final rules
Final Rule: Read the final rule and associated documents
Fact Sheet: Middle Class Economics: Strengthening Retirement Security by Cracking Down on Conflicts of Interest in Retirement Savings

Videos

Additional Resources

Videos: View the playlist

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Worth Sharing

America's Retirement Assets: Today most of America's retirement savings are in IRAs, not ERISA-protected pensions or 401(k)-type plans. This means individuals increasingly need to make complicated investment decisions to secure their financial futures, and their savings have fewer protections under the law. A graph shows the amount of money America's retirement savers had invested in IRAs, 401(k)-type plans and traditional pensions between 1982 and 2014. In 1981, the majority of plans were in traditional pensions: 350 billion dollars, with 159 billion in 401(k)-type plans and less than 7 billion in IRAs. By 1997, 401(k)-type plans had risen above traditional pensions. And by 1999, IRAs had risen above both. By 2014, savers had $7.2 trillion in IRAs, $5.3 trillion in 401(k)-type plans and $3.1 trillion in traditional pensions.