2020
DC Survey: Plan Benchmarking

Fees

Plan fees remain a top concern of sponsors, as evidenced by the fact that 78% have calculated plan administrative fees during the prior plan year. Benchmarking of these fees also remains popular, with 51% of plans having done so. The allocation of administrative fees has changed little in the past four years; participants continue to bear the most responsibility for recordkeeping fees. But participants also continue to benefit from falling investment management fees: 70% of plans now have an average asset-weighted expense ratio of less than 0.50%, a notable increase from the 54% in 2017.