Now that automatic and default features have gained widespread acceptance in DC retirement plans, it may be time to consider additional steps to further enhance participant retirement preparedness.
Willis Towers Watson offers nine actions for DC plan sponsors to mitigate risks in 2019.
Setting defaults too low, choosing the wrong default investment and offering company stock as an investment option could result in unintended consequences, BlackRock found.
The Standard recommends automatic plan features as well as managed accounts.
Only 33% of Americans are comfortable with their retirement readiness level.
More are using automatic plan features, fiduciary advisers and investment policy statements, PSCA finds.
EBRI says that if the Automatic Retirement Plan Act of 2017 was combined with auto-portability, the retirement savings shortfall of $4.13 trillion would be reduced by $932 billion, or 22.6%.
Preparing participants financially to be able to retire beat out reducing plan costs as plan sponsors' top concern in this year's Fidelity Investments Plan Sponsor Attitudes Study.
In conclusion, IZA says, “the data do not support the idea that presenting optional 401(k) plan information in a simpler, more compact way will improve employees’ retirement planning choices. However, we did find that financial literacy was positively associated with better choices."
They are on track to replace 75% of their income, compared to 64% for Americans overall.
Those who are contributing less than 3% to a retirement plan are on track to replace 59% of their income in retirement, whereas those who contribute 10% or more are on track to replace 128% of their income, an analysis from Empower found.
DC plan consultants surveyed by PIMCO offer suggestions for helping retirees with income, core investment menu design and other DC plan features.
With concerns about retirement readiness growing, sponsors are turning to automatic features, increasing their contributions, streamlining their investment menus and improving fee transparency.
A blueprint from the Insured Retirement Institute offers a guide for its dialogue with Congress and the Administration about improving Americans’ retirement outlook.
In 2016, 40.2% of plan sponsors surveyed by the PSCA used a default rate for auto enrollment greater than 6%.
All employees would have 6% of their income contributed to a workplace retirement plan and have these contributions automatically escalated each year.
Seventy percent of those with less than $45,000 in household income say they cannot afford to save for retirement.