Nationwide Financial Redefines 401 Enrollment

Business Wire, April 30, 2007

New Materials Take the Guesswork out of Retirement Planning

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- For plan sponsors, getting associates to enroll in their company-sponsored 401(k) plan can be one of the most challenging aspects of managing the plan. With an associate's income earmarked for so many things, saving for retirement often conflicts with more immediate goals like buying a new home, saving for college or paying off debt. To help plan sponsors simplify the retirement planning process for their associates, Nationwide Financial Services, Inc (NYSE:NFS), has overhauled its end-to-end enrollment experience.

"Our goal is to help plan sponsors deliver an education program that supports their plans' goals, improves the enrollment experience and ultimately engages participants to take action," said Karen Eisenbach, vice president of marketing for private-sector retirement plans.

Simple Solutions, From Start to Finish

Educating plan participants about how to enroll in their company-sponsored 401(k) plan is not a single event. Creating a program that is meaningful, informative and empowers participants to save for retirement requires education at every step in the process. Nationwide has created a three-phased enrollment experience that helps plan sponsors reach participants before enrollment, at the point of enrollment and after enrollment.

Using Nationwide's retirement plan checklist, plan sponsors can choose the pre-enrollment materials that will best meet their participant education goals-- to increase enrollment, to increase contributions or to encourage appropriate asset allocation strategies.

Nationwide also offers plan sponsors materials that can be used to reach participants after enrollment. Those materials include participant reminder letters and presentations for ongoing retirement education.

New Tools of the Trade

As part of Nationwide's effort to redefine the enrollment experience, it also redesigned its enrollment materials. The new program features simplified resources with clear, fun and energetic messages that focus on the retirement saving and investing process from the participant's point-of-view.

In addition to a calculator, an easy-to-use investment personality profile helps participants identify their investment style and provides information on saving levels and investment options based on their preferences.

"Many American workers rely on their company-sponsored 401(k) plan as their primary source of retirement savings and assets. Knowing this, we've designed a comprehensive package that helps take the guesswork out of saving and investing for retirement by helping participants understand not only why they need to prepare for retirement, but also how to do it," Eisenbach said.

To learn more about the participant education program, call Nationwide Financial toll free at 800-626-3112.

Please note that investing involves risk and while asset allocation may help manage risk it does not ensure a profit or prevent a loss.

About Nationwide Financial

Nationwide Financial Services, Inc. (NYSE:NFS), a publicly traded company based in Columbus, Ohio, provides a variety of financial services that help consumers invest1and protect their long-term assets, and offers retirement plans and services through both public- and private-sector employers.

It's part of the Nationwide group of companies, which offers diversified insurance and financial services. The group is led by Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, which is ranked No. 104 on the Fortune 500 based on 2006 revenue2. For more information, visit www.nationwide.com.

Nationwide, Nationwide Financial, the Nationwide Framemark are federally registered service marks of Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company.

1 Trust programs and trust services are offered by Nationwide Trust Company, FSB. Nationwide Investment Services Corporation, member NASD. In MI only: Nationwide Investment Svcs. Corporation.

2 Fortune Magazine, April 2007