By Jeff Bean
March 7, 2011

Are your employees on track to reach their retirement income goals? Have they even taken steps to calculate such a goal? How can mayors help city employees plan for and live in retirement?

Help your city employees get started on the road to retirement readiness by taking an in-depth look at their retirement situation with the new Nationwide® On Your Side Interactive Retirement PlannerSM. The Planner can help your employees set goals, track progress, and find suggestions to improve their unique retirement outlook — all in about ten minutes. "We are excited about this new online resource and its ability to allow users to see what adjustments they can make to reach a retirement goal," said Nationwide Retirement Plans Financial Senior Vice President Anne Arvia. "Our customers told us they wanted a retirement tool that was simple but meaningful and would help them make informed decisions, which guided the development of the Interactive Retirement Planner."

Users can tweak hypothetical scenarios, such as years until an investor reaches retirement, contribution levels, years in retirement and annual income in retirement, to see how changes in these categories can impact each other and the retirement planning process.

Nationwide understands that employees can be overwhelmed by the retirement planning process. Many tools that provide a "big" number for their retirement income goal aren’t always helpful and employees don’t want to be forced into an immediate decision. Plan sponsors and participants indicated they want online resources that help them set a retirement income goal, provide them with guidance on how to reach that goal, and allow them to compare results with peers and the market.

Arvia said that the new online planner is a way for anyone to gauge where they are in regard to their retirement plans. The resource allows employees to feel confident in preparing for retirement by helping them establish their retirement goals, and then shows them visually how they can stay on track to reach those goals.

"Your employees are becoming more actively engaged in retirement planning, but they’re not always confident they’re making the right decisions," Arvia said. "Given the growing importance of personal savings on retirement readiness we’re providing these resources so your employees can make more informed decisions based on their individual situation."

Be an advocate for your employees and help them prepare for and live in retirement. Through the Conference of Mayors Deferred Compensation Program, the Conference and Nationwide can provide additional information to promote retirement planning. Contact Kathryn Kretschmer-Weyland with the U.S. Conference of Mayors by email (kweyland@usmayors.org) or by phone (301-460-5251) or contact Louie Watson with Nationwide, by e-mail (WatsonL2@Nationwide.com) or by phone (614-854-8895).

©2011, Nationwide Retirement Solutions. Nationwide, the Nationwide Framemark and On Your Side are service marks of Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company.

Nationwide Retirement Specialists are Registered Representatives of Nationwide Investment Services Corporation, Member FINRA. In Michigan only, Nationwide Investment Svcs. Corporation.

Nationwide Retirement Solutions (Nationwide) makes payments to The United States Conference of Mayors and its affiliate United States Mayors Enterprises (collectively USCM) for their sponsorship and the services that they perform generally for all their members related to Nationwide’s products and services sold exclusively in public sector retirement markets. More detail about these payments is available at www.nrsforu.com.

Nationwide, the Nationwide framemark, On Your Side and the On Your Side Interactive Retirement Planner are service marks of Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company.