Middle-Market Employers not Ready for Fee Disclosure

December 15, 2011 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The majority (61%) of middle-market retirement plan sponsors do not feel prepared for new fee disclosure rules.

Middle-market executives believe only 3% of employees fully understand the cost of their retirement plan according to the Verisight and McGladrey 2011/2012 Compensation, Retirement and Benefits Trends Survey.  

Further confusion exists around fiduciary standards. Eighty-seven percent of employers use an external or third-party investment adviser, but one-third (34%) are unsure what their adviser's fiduciary responsibility means and 27% work with advisers that are not fiduciaries.    

The survey also found when deciding what is most important in evaluating a retirement offering: 

• Fifty-nine percent consider the costs of investments and also quality and level of service,  
• Thirty-two percent care about the reputation of the provider, and  
• Twenty-four percent care about the availability of specific investment options.