Pension and Investments Eddy Award 2020

We received a Pensions & Investments Eddy Award in the financial wellness category. The Eddy Awards are an annual program recognizing plan sponsors and service providers that exhibit best practices in offering investment and financial education to defined contribution plan participants.

What was anticipated to be a year of growth and expansion took a drastic turn in March when we were faced with COVID-19 and the effects of this unprecedented pandemic, including extreme stock market volatility. As the year progressed, the majority of us were faced with additional challenges and obstacles such as: a shift to working from home, helping our children with homeschooling, adjusting to social distancing, adapting to a reduction in pay, and facing the ongoing devastation from a record number of fires. To help you manage the changes in your day-to-day environment and responsibilities, as well as manage your financial wellbeing, we developed resources and tools to help you navigate these difficult circumstances.

In addition to adopting provisions of the CARES Act, offering COVID-related distributions up to $25,000, loan repayment suspensions, and RMD suspensions — we modified our loan provisions to expand loan eligibility. Furthermore, we quickly pivoted from offering in-person workshops and one-on-one meetings to increasing webinars and providing virtual one-on-one meetings with your local Retirement Specialists. To address the new financial challenges resulting from a reduction in pay and/or loss of income experienced by a spouse or significant other, we introduced new webinars that focused on budgeting, debt reduction, and tools to help reduce expenses. We also added educational information to our website addressing the importance of avoiding headline-driven investment decisions during periods of market volatility and the value of staying focused on your overall financial plan.

We encourage you to take advantage of the helpful tools and resources we offer to help you on your financial wellness journey. It really is all about you!

NAGDCA Award 2019

Our one-minute video series, which first launched in 2018, received top ranking in the Technology and Social media category. We selected topics to cover based on feedback from you, our participants, then produced quick one minute videos to address common questions we received about features of our program. Savings Plus ranked first in this category because these videos illustrated how participants could quickly and easily take action on their accounts and increase their retirement readiness.

We added two additional videos that weren’t included in the award recognition for our 2018 work: My Interactive Retirement Planner (our online planning tool) and Pre-tax versus Roth contribution. Take a minute and review all our videos.

NAGDCA Award 2018

In 2018, our seasonal Salary Increase Postcard campaign, segmented by Millennial, Generation X, and Boomer audiences, was awarded a Leadership Recognition Award in the category of Participant Education & Communication. The Awards Committee selected our campaign because of the effectiveness of our vibrant, fun, and California focused simple messaging. This campaign resulted in over 28,000 of you, our participants, increasing your contributions and better positioning yourself for a brighter financial future. Find out for yourself how a small annual increase can make a big difference in your retirement savings.