2019
DC Survey: Plan Benchmarking

Participant Education and Advice

Understanding plan fees has long been a concern for sponsors, which may be why 78% calculated their administrative fees in the past year. However, improvements in fee disclosure and transparency have reduced the perceived need to benchmark fees, as less than half (48%) did so this year, vs. 55% in 2017. Participants continue to bear most responsibility for recordkeeping fees but also benefit from falling investment management fees—65% of plans now have an average asset-weighted expense ratio of less than 0.50%, a material increase from the 54% of plans in 2017.