BPAS, a leading national provider of retirement plans, benefit plans, fund administration, and collective investment trusts has released version 2.0 of its Roadways Mile Marker financial planning tool for retirement plan participants.
The interactive Roadways Mile Marker 2.0, a key feature in the new BPAS Participant Portal introduced earlier this month, uses wizard technology with real-time updates and projections that go beyond retirement savings to present a bigger picture of each participant’s overall financial health.
“The new Roadways Mile Marker is unique, user friendly, engaging, and easy to see results with just a few inputs so participants have time to take action to shape their financial journey through various life and career stages,” said Elizabeth Kaido, SVP of BPAS Sales & Relationship Management.
“We knew we needed a tool that would paint a full picture of participants’ overall financial health,” said Paul Neveu, BPAS CEO. “In developing the new Roadways Mile Marker, we focused on one key question: How can we create a tool that paints a reasonably accurate picture of financial health in a manageable about of time for the participant? It needed to look at compensation, savings rates, retirement plan balances, outside assets, home equity, and total debt, so participants have time to take steps to shape the rest of their retirement journey.”
BPAS assembled a team of experts from its key service areas including its fully credentialed actuarial team. One actuary, Peter Faber, led the charge with the mission of developing a user-friendly tool that’s actuarially sound and unique to the industry. Faber found that most participant experiences using retirement planning platforms over the years fell into two camps: those focused on retirement projections, and those offering a holistic gap analysis including personal assets, liabilities and other inputs.
“Too often, models like this end up being an over-engineered mess that are more useful for programmers than participants,” said Faber. “This project was captivating because accessibility and accuracy were both paramount from the beginning. Retirement planning tools don’t mean much if they’re not accessible. I am truly proud we were able to develop a cross-generational tool for employees at any stage of their career and in any financial situation – one they can revisit often to shape their journey along the way.”
Kaido agrees. “While there are a lot of interesting concepts out there, we thought that most of the tools missed the mark. There are participants who want an easy calculation with only a few inputs. There are also those willing to invest in a deep dive to produce something more accurate and holistic. After brainstorming with our actuaries, we were able to create a tool to accomplish both goals.”
“Sure, there are financial planning tools a participant can buy for $50 or $100 that are quite powerful,” added Neveu. “They’re pretty complicated and can take hours to populate. We designed the Roadways Mile Marker to bring a valuable tool to the masses at no charge – giving BPAS participants a meaningful perspective with a 15-minute investment of time and the ability to update it regularly.”
“We’re very proud of what Peter, Liz, and the BPAS team built,” said Vince Spina, President of BPAS Actuarial & Pension Services. “The result is a manifestation of our BPAS cultural pillars: deep subject area expertise and a focus on meeting the real-life needs of participants. The Roadways Mile Marker, approved and tested by our team of more than 30 credentialed actuaries, will benefit hundreds of thousands of BPAS participants across numerous account types. Most importantly, it will help get them on the road to financial security.”
A final advantage of the new Roadways Mile Marker is that it allows Advisors and Corporate Trustees to meet with participants and use the tool on-demand as part of ongoing planning exercises. Both parties are able to control the inputs and assumptions to see how the participant is doing, identify gaps, and set a strategy to close them.
News Source: Yahoo Finance
