RESEARCH |
2019
DC Survey: Plan Benchmarking
Data Sweep: Our latest findings on DC plans—for benchmarking a plan against its peers or just gleaning some new solutions
Reported by PLANSPONSOR
| Art by Daniel Shaffer
2019 Survey
Match Structure
Employers have many choices related to how matching contributions are structured. The two most common match formulas are traditional and fixed-dollar structures, which match 100% of participant contributions and are present in 40% of plans. Nearly as popular are stretch and tiered match formulas—at 28% and 22% of plans, respectively—which require higher levels of savings to receive the maximum match. Effective match rates are largely unchanged from prior years, but, as this year saw, a record 51% of plans now have a vesting schedule of two years or less.
Match Strategy
- Traditional – E.g., 100% of first 3%
- Stretch – E.g., 50% of first 6%
- Tiered – E.g., 100% of 3%, plus 50% of next 2%
- Fixed dollar – E.g., 50 cents per dollar contributed
- Other type of formula
100% Vesting in the Match Available
- Immediately
- In ≤2 years
- In 3 – 5 years (cliff)
- In 3 – 5 years (graded)
- In ≥6 years (cliff)
- In ≥6 years (graded)
