T. Rowe Price Retirement Plan Services, Inc. Adds SoFi Student Loan Solutions to Financial Wellness Offering
T. Rowe Price Retirement Plan Services, Inc. announced that it will launch a suite of student loan resources this fall, including educational tools and content within its robust financial wellness offering. Plan sponsors will also have the option to include additional offerings like employer contribution services and access to student loan refinancing, as well as live financial counseling services. The benefit offerings will be provided by digital personal finance company SoFi through the ‘SoFi at Work’ program(T. Rowe Price).
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The tools and educational content will be integrated into T. Rowe Price 401(k) participant website, giving participants the ability to manage and plan for their student loan needs while saving for retirement. For plan sponsors, helping employees manage education costs can result in greater participation in the retirement benefit, prevent productivity loss, and help attract and retain talent.
New optional solutions from SoFi’s ‘SoFi at Work’ include a centralized dashboard that houses the Student Loan Debt Navigator. Through ‘SoFi at Work’ employees can access multiple options to help them better manage their financial needs and navigate their student loan payments. Plan sponsors using SoFi’s optional solutions can elect to provide connectivity to SoFi’s centralized dashboard from the participant website.
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T. Rowe Price recently conducted a survey that examined the effect student loan debt can have on the financial behaviors and attitudes of 401(k) savers. According to the survey:
- More than half of the survey respondents (54%)—across all generations–say they are affected by post-secondary education expenses, with 52% citing that these costs are a barrier to achieving their financial goals. Further, respondents with student loan debt are less likely to participate in their 401(k) compared to workers without it, and many are unlikely to shed this expense completely until they are on the precipice of their retirement.
- Sixty percent of those surveyed viewed their student loan debt as long-term debt (such as a mortgage), significantly longer than the original 10-year amortization.
“Our focus, as we continue to enhance our financial wellness offering, is to find solutions that help participants successfully manage all of their competing financial needs–like budgeting, paying down debt and loans, and saving for health care expenses,” said Kevin Collins, head of T. Rowe Price Retirement Plan Services, Inc. “Student loan debt can have a significant effect on an individual’s financial situation and we recognize that many individuals may need help finding the balance between managing or planning for education costs while also savin
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g for retirement. Our strategic alliance with SoFi will help individuals navigate this successfully.”
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