Mesirow Financial’s Retirement Plan Advisory practice has released its 2013 Retirement Plan Survey Report. The results outline initiatives plan sponsors are considering to keep their plans competitive while fulfilling their fiduciary duties.
The survey addresses retirement plan design, fiduciary oversight options, employee education and fee disclosure, among other topics.
“The reality is that many participants need assistance through custom guidance or a more paternalistic, automated solution,” said Chris Reagan, Mesirow Financial senior managing director and practice leader.
Key findings in the 2013 report include:
- Participant interest in fee disclosure is surprisingly low with more than 83% of plan sponsors indicating that employees had very few questions after receiving 404(a) participant fee notification
- Automation solutions continue to play a key role in plan design as approximately 55% of plan sponsors surveyed offer automatic enrollment features – a 5% increase from last year
- Interest in step-up deferral rate solutions continues to rise as 44% of respondents offer this as an option
- The rapid growth of target-date funds continues as more than 85% of plan sponsors reporting using this type of solution – up 13% from last year
- Fee disclosure is top of mind with almost 88% of plan sponsors reviewing implicit and explicit plan fees in the past six months
Mesirow Financial’s Retirement Plan Advisory practice oversees more than $4.1 billion in assets and provides comprehensive, co-fiduciary consulting services to retirement plan sponsors.
© 2013 RIJ Publishing LLC. All rights reserved.
