Hispanic Market Program boosts participation and deferral rates

DES MOINES, Iowa--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Culturally relevant education at work and online is helping Hispanic employees learn more and save more for retirement, according to new data from Principal Financial Group^®.

Principal^® created the Hispanic Market Program to provide specialized retirement education for employers with large Hispanic workforces. Since launching the program in 2013¹:

• 401(k) plan participation among Hispanic employees in plans with administrative services by Principal is up to 66 percent (a 10 percent increase)
• Nearly half (45 percent) either enrolled in their employer’s retirement plan or increased their deferral on the spot after hearing about its benefits
• Those who enrolled did so at an average of 5 percent of salary, instead of the more typical 3 percent

“We’re encouraged by these results and are working hard to expand the program to more plan sponsors,” said Carlos Rojas, director of consumer and cultural engagement at Principal. “According to our data from plans under the program, just slightly more than half of eligible Hispanic participants are enrolled in their workplace retirement plan.”

Elements of engagement
Recognizing that overcoming culture and language barriers requires more than a simple English-to-Spanish translation, Principal based the Hispanic Market Program education strategy on employee needs and acculturation level.

The program focuses on key elements of engagement that:

• Address cultural influences that may undermine retirement savings, such as sending money home or moving back to the employee’s country of origin
• Identify, develop and integrate cultural elements to help simplify more complex financial topics
• Incorporate levels of culture and language by analyzing the workforce, picking up on what’s culturally unique and making suggestions to plan sponsors so they can customize their plans

The Hispanic Market Program is part of a larger initiative at Principal that aims to provide relevant experiences to targeted consumer segments.

Success story
Texas-based Structural & Steel Products wanted to find a way to motivate more Hispanic employees to participate in its 401(k) plan.

The firm offers a 401(k) plan to its 230 employees, of which more than 70 percent are Hispanic. Not only was the Hispanic participation rate lower compared to that of non-Hispanic employees, many who were participating weren’t taking full advantage of the employer match.

After using the education strategy from Principal:

• Participation rate of Hispanic employees nearly doubled to 68 percent
• Average deferral rate of Hispanic employees increased nearly one percentage point to 5.42 percent (from 4.5 percent)
• 53 percent of Hispanic employees now defer enough to receive the full employer match of 5 percent

Principal.com now available in Spanish
Principal recently launched principal.com/es, a culturally relevant Spanish version of pre-login principal.com. It offers many of the same features and educational content as the English site.

For more research, analysis and insights from Principal, visit the Principal Knowledge Center and connect with us on Twitter.

About Principal^®
Principal helps people and companies around the world build, protect and advance their financial well-being through retirement, insurance and asset management solutions that fit their lives. Our employees are passionate about helping clients of all income and portfolio sizes achieve their goals – offering innovative ideas, investment expertise and real-life solutions to make financial progress possible. To find out more, visit us at principal.com.

This document is intended to be educational in nature and is not intended to be taken as a recommendation.

¹ Results based on 1,731 participants exposed to the new Hispanic 401(k) education program made available by Principal.

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Principal

Jaime Naig, 515-247-0798

[email protected]

Source: Principal

BELLEVUE, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Symetra today announced the promotion of Nicholas Mocciolo to chief investment officer, Symetra Financial Corporation. Mr. Mocciolo, interim co-president and senior managing director of Symetra Investment Management (SIM), has responsibility for the day-to-day management of the general account portfolios of Symetra Life Insurance Company and its affiliates. He reports to Tommie Brooks, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Symetra Financial Corporation.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260429624782/en/

Nicholas Mocciolo has been promoted to chief investment officer for Symetra Financial Corporation. Mr. Mocciolo is interim co-president and senior managing director of Symetra Investment Management.

SIM, a registered investment adviser, currently manages over $88 billion for affiliated Symetra Financial and Sumitomo Life accounts.

Mr. Mocciolo joined Symetra in January 2015 from White Mountains Advisors, LLC, where he led the derivatives sector and participated in Symetra general account portfolio management. Prior to White Mountains, Mr. Mocciolo was senior vice president, senior portfolio manager, derivatives, at Hartford Investment Management Company, where he was responsible for The Hartford’s enterprise-wide derivatives hedging activities.

“Nick has played a critical role in helping lead, manage and expand Symetra’s asset management capabilities, and was instrumental in the launch of SIM in 2019. He brings exceptional talent, investment knowledge, and management experience to his Symetra CIO role,” said Symetra Financial CFO Tommie Brooks. “Nick is also a trusted counselor to Symetra’s parent, Sumitomo Life, and has built a strong relationship with its investment management team over the last five years as SIM has overseen an increasingly larger portion of Sumitomo Life’s U.S.-based investment portfolio.”

Mr. Mocciolo received a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and a master’s degree in applied mathematics from the University of Connecticut and also earned a master’s degree in operations research from Columbia University. He is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries (FSA) and has earned the Financial Risk Manager (FRM) designation.

About Symetra

Symetra Financial Corporation is a diversified financial services company based in Bellevue, Washington. In business since 1957, Symetra provides employee benefits, annuities and life insurance through a national network of benefit consultants, financial institutions, and independent financial professionals and insurance producers. For more information, visit www.symetra.com.

About Symetra Investment Management

Symetra Investment Management Company (SIM) is a Registered Investment Adviser offering discretionary investment advisory services to institutional clients. Founded in 2019 and headquartered in Farmington, Conn., SIM manages approximately $88.7 billion in assets across Investment Grade Corporate Credit, High Yield, Bank Loans, Commercial Mortgage Loans, Private Placements, Structured Credit, Hedging and Alternatives.

SIM and its subsidiary, Symetra Investment Management Real Estate Investors (SIM REI), have approximately 150 employees. SIM is a wholly owned subsidiary of Symetra Financial Corporation.

For more information, visit https://www.symetra.com/symetra-investment-management/.

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Diana McSweeney
(425) 256-6167

[email protected]

Source: Symetra Financial Corporation