As part of an ongoing commitment to continually improve its products and services for retirement-plan participants, Prudential Retirement has completely redesigned its participant website to make it easier to use, and to create a more useful and meaningful experience for individuals seeking online help in making appropriate retirement-planning decisions. Prudential Retirement is a business of Prudential Financial (NYSE:PRU).
The enhanced website, launched this week, features a more user-friendly visual design; a significantly simplified navigational structure; and a distinctive, powerful Retirement Income Calculator, which projects a participant's monthly retirement-income, identifies existing shortfalls, and suggests alternate savings rates to bridge any retirement-income gaps.
"Our new website is designed to help individuals feel comfortable and confident about managing their retirement accounts online. By making the site simple and user-friendly"”and by incorporating new and innovative resources, and tools"”we believe we can help individuals achieve better retirement outcomes," said Jim Mallozzi, senior vice president, Marketing, Product and Advisory Services, at Prudential Retirement.
"Moreover, the website improvements will make it easier for plan participants to recognize and appreciate the value of their retirement programs, elevating the image and profile of the plan's sponsor. The website not only offers clear advantages for participants, it also helps position sponsors as "˜organizations of choice,'" he added.
The website redesign is the culmination of more than a year's research with individuals, retirement-plan sponsors, and industry experts, which drove a variety of critical enhancements, specifically:
- A Revitalized Visual Design - The website features an engaging design and user-friendly layouts that were extensively tested to ensure they create an environment that's compelling and inviting for visitors. The new site also employs "every-day" terminology and language, not industry jargon.
- A Clear, Comprehensive "Snapshot View" of the Accounts Home Page - The new Accounts Home Page delivers a clear, concise, "big-picture" overview of every retirement account, including defined contribution, defined benefit and non-qualified programs, a participant may have with Prudential. The user-friendly layout delivers critical information about account values, contribution activity, asset allocation, and performance.
- Simplified Navigation - The new website is logically organized, easy to navigate and action- oriented. The navigation was designed to make it as simple and easy as possible for participants to conduct the most common transactions, including asset re-allocations. Account details are available by simply clicking on the account name. In addition, a revolving library of links appears on several screens, providing simple access to articles, online courses, or calculators that address specific interests, questions or concerns.
- The New "Retirement Income Calculator"- Using basic information about age, earnings, outside retirement holdings, investment style and expected retirement age"”along with pre-populated plan information already in the system about account balances and contribution rates"”the Retirement Income Calculator instantly generates a projected monthly retirement income and compares it with the participant's expected retirement expenses. If the participant is "ahead of the game," he or she receives a pat on the back. If there's a gap, the participant receives help. That's what makes Prudential's calculator different from the vast array of other calculators on the market. It's fun, engaging, and instead of just numbers or discouraging projections, the calculator offers hope in the form of an explanation and a personal action plan. The plan may include increasing contribution rates or suggesting a different retirement date.
"Our new participant website underscores our belief that, with the proper tools, resources, guidance and information, everyone can build a meaningful retirement nest egg. For participants who prefer to manage their accounts online, the website is a welcome step forward toward achieving a secure and abundant retirement," said Mallozzi.
Prudential Retirement delivers retirement plan solutions for public, private, and non-profit organizations. Services include state-of-the-art record keeping, administrative services, investment management, comprehensive employee investment education and communications, and trustee services. With over 80 years of retirement experience, Prudential Retirement meets the needs of two million defined contribution participants and more than one million defined benefit participants and annuitants. Prudential Retirement has $150 billion in retirement account values as of March 31, 2007.
Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), a financial services leader with approximately $630 billion of assets under management as of March 31, 2007, has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Leveraging its heritage of life insurance and asset management expertise, Prudential is focused on helping individual and institutional customers grow and protect their wealth. The company's well-known Rock symbol is an icon of strength, stability, expertise and innovation that has stood the test of time. Prudential's businesses offer a variety of products and services, including life insurance, annuities, retirement-related services, mutual funds, asset management, and real estate services. For more information, please visit www.prudential.com.
