The Great-West Life Assurance Company is making enhancements to the financial education services offered to group retirement plan members through Acquaint Financial Inc, the company said Tuesday.

Since 2004, Acquaint has complemented Great-West Life’s financial education services with additional options for group retirement plan sponsors to offer plan members. Over 200,000 plan members currently have access to this service.

Great-West Life and Acquaint announced two enhancements:

> iAcquaint online financial education can now be extended to employees who aren’t eligible for, or haven’t enrolled in, their sponsor’s group retirement plan. A web-based tool, iAcquaint provides general financial education to help members better manage their personal finances. The tool gives members access to debt and credit counsellors, interactive learning modules and more.

> Plan sponsors can now provide members with one-on-one financial counselling using Acquaint’s CareerStages programs. This new service allows plan members to customize the counselling to suit their retirement plan’s unique needs.

“The need for people to effectively manage personal finances has never been greater,” says Jeff Aarssen, Great-West Life’s vice president, group retirement services, sales & marketing. “As provincial and federal governments continue to focus on reforms to Canada’s retirement income system, more plan sponsors are requesting services to help plan members take charge of their financial futures.”

Asaf Shad, president and CEO of Acquaint, says, “As independent financial educators, our mandate is to provide effective, interactive and reliable financial education. Educated members are likely to make better financial decisions. Together with Great-West Life, we can help members improve their personal financial plans and take charge of their financial future.”

IE