Being an American has different meanings in different cultures. For example, some foreigners think 
Americans are fat and lazy. Others look to our education system and think we aren't very intelligent. I had a person from another country recently tell me that Americans are financial bampots. I will let you look up what this means (hint: it was a British person that told me this). This was the first I had heard this and I had to research what it meant. I think in some respects that this gentleman was right in his diagnosis because there has been a substantial lack of education in this area starting from childhood.
Financial literacy and saving for retirement through your pharmacy 401k work hand in hand. The more financially literate your employees become, the more and more they save in your retirement plan. Once they begin to save and understand how this helps them achieve their retirement goals, then the plan really starts to become a benefit they value. If there is no connection between how they use the plan and how they retire, then there most likely isn't a benefit in place at all.
So the questions is, what can you do to improve financial literacy in your pharmacy 401k?
- Hire the right advisor - your advisor should commit to at least two meetings per year with your employees. The first is to announce any changes to the plan and to answer general questions. The second should be a one on one meeting to help each employee understand how to use the plan to achieve his or her retirement goals.
- Commit to education - allow your employees to take time during working hours to meet with your 401k advisor (once you have the right one in place) about the retirement plan.
- Take an interest in your employees' success - we cannot think of a better morale booster than to start participating in your employees' success. They will know that you truly care about their success and the pharmacy 401k will be a big part of that success.
Pharmacy 401ks can be a significant part of your benefits package if you and your advisor(s) commit to education the employees on how to use it. This is imperative to the success of your benefit plan and to our country as a whole. It is also part of your fiduciary duty.
