know how
know how
Testing Your Know How
Testing your
participant’s
Know How
knowledge
Most retirement-plan education programs (including this one) talk about the importance of saving early, the benefits of tax-deferred savings, and the need to diversify
one’s investments and to set goals. They also talk about the fund choices available to
participants and, generally, try to assist the participant in establishing his or her own
risk-tolerance profile.
However, what many programs still lack is even the most rudimentary attempt to
validate that participants actually have grasped the basics before sending them off
to make investment decisions that could have a dramatic impact on their retirement
security.
This month’s Know How—through a series of five questions in a simple “quiz” format—attempts to get the participant to focus on the basics of investment choices.
The questions—and the answers—should provide an opportunity for you to help
make sure participants “know how” to make the right choices for their retirement.
It also can help establish realistic expectations for how different types of investments
perform at different times. Let us know how it works. —Nevin E. Adams, JD
Illustration by Meg Hunt
PLANSPONSOR.com November 2011 41
