The Los Angeles office of Lockton Retirement Services today announced the launch of its new Retirement Readiness Practice and proprietary suite of consulting services to help employers mitigate increased costs associated with an aging employee population who are deferring their retirement beyond 65 years of age.

After growing sharply throughout the 1990s, participation rates in 401(k)s leveled off during the next decade, especially during the period between 2005 and 2009, according to trend analysis from the Employee Benefit Research Institute.

For the third quarter of 2011, the John Hancock Investor Sentiment Index score is +10, a significant drop from the +18 score in the years second quarter and from the +22 score of the inaugural index in Q1 2011.

Fidelity announced Thursday that it has launched a new Retirement Distribution Center on its website to help clients manage withdrawals from their IRAs.

Despite lingering health reform uncertainty and a still-sluggish economy, brokers remain oddly optimistic about their own individual futures but worried about the industry.

The rising cost of health insurance looms large among business decision makers.

Advisor confidence in the economy and the stock markets fell again in September, dropping nearly 7% to about 92 from 98 in August, Rydex|SGI Advisor Benchmarking reported on Tuesday.

The Federal Long-Term Care Insurance Program, in its first major open season for enrollment since its inception, saw an increase of 20% in enrollment, with more than 45,000 now covered by the largest employer-sponsored plan in the U.S.