Could this be the best way to make retirement planning easy?

What’s consolidating?

Consolidating means gathering your savings—from all your different financial institutions—and pulling them together in one place. 

Four ways consolidating your savings can make retirement planning easy

1. One website, one sign in 

The big picture is finally in focus. Track and manage all your savings on just one website. 

Consolidate your savings, ditch the spreadsheet, and bookmark just one website to get a clear and complete view of your overall financial health at a glance—your personal rate of return, the amount of investment risk you’re taking, the fees you’re paying, the contributions you’re making, the total you’ve saved, and whether you’re likely to reach your goals.

Just one you, just one username. Imagine having a single, secure username and password for everything you’ve saved.

Time to check on your savings, the old way: Sign in to site number one. Then worry about using the same username for site number two. Track down your long-lost password for site number three. Give up on the password for site number four. And—wait—wasn’t there a site number five? 

Or the new way: Consolidate your savings and have just one ID—that works—for all of it. 

2. One less thing on your to-do list

No more trying to tackle it all. No more trying to find your way around multiple plans, websites, processes, and procedures. 

When it comes to figuring out complex plan rules, less is more. Consolidating your savings can mean far less to understand and remember just to manage your money. Get familiar with the offerings of only one provider, and before you know it, you’ll be tapping into all the services and tools that can make planning for your retirement quick and easy. 

You’ve got expert support. You'll get all the support, features, and advice you love about your group retirement plan, and more.

Your group retirement plan likely comes with options and benefits you can’t get investing on your own. And your provider’s service specialists, financial education experts, and advisors can help you make the most of your plan and the money that’s in it. Consolidating can mean applying what you love about your group retirement plan to all your savings.  

3. Easier on your family

Consolidate with your spouse. Bring your whole household’s savings together in one place. 

Instead of struggling to keep track of your family’s savings scattered here, there, and everywhere, consolidate your spouse’s savings at the same financial institution as yours. In just one step, you double up on all the ways consolidating your savings helps make retirement planning easy. 

Help your loved ones find your money. Consolidating can make it easier for your loved ones if they ever need to find their way around your finances.

Your friends or family might help out during a busy time, act on a power of attorney, or serve as executor of your estate. When they’ve got fewer slips and statements to sort through, and they’re all from the same place, it’s far less likely that any one plan, policy, or account will get lost in the shuffle. 

4. Easier on your wallet

Group savings can mean lower fees. Group retirement plan fees are usually lower than you’d pay investing on your own. 

When it comes to paying fees, even 0.5% can mean a difference of thousands of dollars over the long term. You’ll probably notice that the fees you pay on your group retirement plan’s investments are lower than you’d pay investing on your own. Consolidating into your group plan means you can make the most of those lower fees and of the difference that compound interest can make on your retirement. 

Saving more in one place can mean even lower fees and greater rewards. Having more money in one plan or financial institution can qualify you for even lower fees or a savings bonus. 

Spreading your savings across many accounts can mean opening yourself up to low- balance and inactivity fees while never quite qualifying for high-balance bonuses and discounts. On the other hand, consolidating your savings into fewer accounts—resulting in higher balances and more activity—can mean opening yourself up to fewer fees, greater rewards, and, best of all, a more promising financial future.

Who to talk to about retirement planning

There’s no limit to how many accounts you can have. And the exact number that’s right for you is a personal thing. So if you’re thinking about consolidating, reach out to your group retirement plan provider or a financial advisor you trust.  

Whatever consolidating looks like for you, one thing’s true for us all: Consolidating your money can make retirement planning a whole lot easier. And it can make a big difference to your quality of life today and in retirement.