Plan Sponsor

According to the Employee Benefit Research Institute's 2023 Retirement Confidence Survey of 2,357 Americans, workers’ and retirees’ confidence that they’ll have enough savings to comfortably support themselves through retirement has dropped to levels not seen since the 2008 global financial crisis. The findings show 64% of workers feel “at least somewhat confident,” with only 18% feeling “very confident” as they remain concerned about inflation and the possibility of recession. Employers can deploy several strategies to help.

Financial stressors, including stubbornly high inflation and historic levels of credit card debt, continue to impact workers across a wide range of income brackets. Research concludes that employees often run out of money in between paychecks. Due to this, professional retirement planning assistance has become a key focus for employees in terms of benefits considerations.

When conducting three- to five-year live-bids, it can be tempting to hyper-focus on fees. But a thorough review of qualitative measures can be key to getting more of your organizational needs met. Here are some considerations to keep in mind when assembling — and evaluating — your next RFP.

A retirement plan may have one or more fiduciaries who have distinct responsibilities, though many individuals and committees may serve in multiple fiduciary roles. Here is a brief overview of the categories of fiduciaries.

When you’re a plan fiduciary, you are, of course, prioritizing what ERISA law requires of you. You have a checklist of Must-Dos. But there is also a list of things that you can do proactively that will keep the plan—and plan fiduciaries—out of trouble. These tasks aren’t required by law, but they are certainly worth deciding whether you want them to be on your Should-Do list.

There’s been a growing trend toward consolidation among retirement plan service providers. But for the most part, less competition hasn’t translated into higher fees for plan sponsors — at least not yet. If anything, the costs for recordkeeping and administrative functions have tended to trend downward.