Data & Research May 21, 2013

Plan Sponsors Continue to ‘Automate’ Participant Decisions

Plan sponsors are increasingly adopting features to help overcome participant inertia, a survey found.
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Mesirow Financial Retirement Plan Advisory practice’s “2013 Retirement Plan Survey” found automatic 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 report using this type of solution—up 13% from last year.  

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In addition, the survey found that fee disclosure is top of mind with nearly 88% of plan sponsors reviewing implicit and explicit plan fees in the past six months. However, participant interest in fee disclosure is surprisingly low with more than 83% of plan sponsors indicating employees had very few questions after receiving 404(a) participant fee disclosures.   

“Plan sponsors continue to work diligently to provide the information and tools needed to help participants overcome the inertia and challenges of saving for retirement. However, in the end, each participant must take ownership of their future and the reality is that many participants need assistance through custom guidance or a more paternalistic, automated solution,” said Chris Reagan, senior managing director and practice leader at Mesirow Financial.
Deals & People May 21, 2013

Mercer Names Principal for Investments Business

Mercer named Sabrina Bailey a principal in its Seattle Investments business.
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Bailey will provide investment consulting services to large defined benefit and defined contribution plans.

Bailey has more than 13 years of consulting and corporate experience in strategic planning, development of investment objectives and policies, asset allocation, investment management selection and research, transition management and investment performance evaluation. She previously worked at Towers Watson, Rogers Casey, and Arnerich Massena & Associates.

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Bailey holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in business, economics and management and a Master of Business Administration degree in organizational leadership from George Fox University.

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