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The Increasing Growth of Fiduciary Advisors to Plan Sponsors

Employer-based retirement plans are a major benefit to employees, especially in today’s job economy where 401(k) or 403(b) plans make up the majority of employee retirement savings. A 2018 survey from the Plan Sponsor Council of America found that 70 percent of companies retain an independent retirement plan advisor, which was 66.8% in the prior year. There are several factors that lead to this growth, such as overseeing the delivery of investment advice to participants by way of registered investment advisors (30.8 percent), certified financial planners (28.8 percent) or third-party web-based providers (20.2 percent). Let’s look at why companies hire plan advisors, why they should care, and tips to find the right advisor.

How to Gauge Retirement Plan Effectiveness

Return on investment. Compound annual growth rate. Market outperformance. Preservation of principal.  Risk adjusted performance. There’s no shortage of metrics available to retirement investors looking to gauge the success of their portfolio. It can be a bit more challenging – and more qualitative – for plan sponsors to gauge their plan’s overall impact on their organization and their participants’ ability to retire.  It’s not easy to get a good sense of whether the 401(k) or 403(b) plan your institution offers stacks up favorably with employee expectations. With that said, however, it’s essential for sponsors to have a good idea of what makes their plan attractive (or not), how to measure it and the overall impact on employee satisfaction. Here’s how to start tracking your retirement plan – and its effect on the bottom line.

Why Plan Participant Education is Essential

Plan sponsors have a responsibility to participants to make retirement plan offerings cost-effective, accessible, easy to understand, and risk managed. Their clearest goal is simple: help to ensure participants are prepared for retirement. Unfortunately, that has proven easier said than done. An alarming body of research by the Employee Benefit Research Institute suggests that many employees are not likely to arrive at retirement age in a secure financial position. Similarly, well over half of all participants in a recent survey failed a basic 401(k) quiz, and an almost equal number reported lack of confidence in their ability to choose investments. These figures are symptoms of a larger issue: financial ignorance. Plan participants often lack a solid understanding of what drives the success of their retirement savings, and increasingly, their unawareness is leaving them unprepared to leave work. Implementing plan participant education is key.

The Rise of Multiple Employer Plans (MEPs)

Smaller to mid-sized firms, trade and professional associations, financial advisors and legislators are fueling increased interest in Multiple Employer Plans (MEPs). The concern about the low retirement savings rate for millions of Americans, particularly those who do not work for large organizations, sparked demand in MEPs as a solution for small to mid-sized institutions to provide quality retirement plan benefits to their employees.