Bank of America Debuts Centralized 401(k) Solution

A new Bank of America solution aims to turn 401(k) assets into a retirement income.

401k Pay, announced Thursday (Nov. 13), is a centralized hub featuring 401(k) recordkeeping, flexible deposit options and advice, designed to help plan participants to set, deposit and track their income throughout retirement.

“401k Pay was developed hand-in-hand with our corporate clients who wanted to offer their employees a retirement income solution,” Lorna Sabbia, head of workplace benefits at Bank of America (BofA), said in a news release.

“Including retirement income resources like 401k Pay as part of their workplace benefits offerings provides employers with the opportunity to improve financial outcomes for their employees and can help drive real business results – including helping to improve productivity, employee job satisfaction and retention.”

According to the release, 401k Pay — set to launch Nov. 17 — helps participants determine the retirement income they generate from their 401(k) account by offering information on things like cost-of-living adjustments, state and federal taxes, and required minimum distributions.

It also lets participants track and monitor their income, while also offering “real-time recalibration results” for the length of a participant’s retirement, allowing them to adjust their income as their needs and goals shift.

The bank pointed to its recent Workplace Benefits Report, which showed that two chief areas where employees say they need financial wellness resources are retirement education and planning, cited by 36% of participants. Another 33% said they needed help in learning how to generate income in retirement.

Meanwhile, recent research by PYMNTS Intelligence showed a range of attitudes when it comes to the way different age groups think about retirement.

“This generational difference in financial behavior reflects divergent priorities,” PYMNTS wrote earlier this year. “Baby boomers prioritize financial stability and maintaining security in later life, as 22% of them cite saving for retirement as their most pressing financial goal, a figure nearly three times higher than that of Gen Z.”

The research also found a divergence in the philosophies on retirement among two core financial personas: “planners,” who take a strategic and proactive approach to managing cash flow, and “reactors,” who tend to handle bills as they pop up, often depending on credit.

Planners devote 12% of their monthly budget to savings and investments, more than double the 5.6% allocated by reactors. While almost 30% of planners prioritize retirement savings, 30% of reactors focus on debt repayment, “highlighting ongoing financial burdens that impede long-term wealth accumulation,” PYMNTS wrote.