In this role, Segreto will oversee the development and execution
of Prudential Retirement’s marketing programs in these areas: defined contribution,
defined benefit, stable value, retirement income, retirement plan
strategies, pension risk transfer, and non-qualified benefits. She will manage several teams devoted to branding, promotional strategies, participant
education programs,
and market research. Segreto will also expand e-commerce strategies for general market outreach for plan sponsors,
participants, and intermediaries.
According to a press release, during her career with
Prudential, Segreto held a number of marketing positions
specializing in project management, product positioning, program
strategy, and communications development. Prior to that, she led
Prudential Retirement’s Integrated Marketing & Strategy and was
director of Participant Programs.
A MetLife study set out to assess how plan sponsors are balancing "retirement savings" and "retirement income" in their plan design; MetLife found most are still focusing on the savings aspect.
MetLife published its findings in its first “Qualified Retirement Plan Barometer” report. The inaugural Barometer score across all plan types is 59 out of a possible 100; the higher the value on the Barometer, the stronger the overall culture of retirement income. Scores ranged from 19 to 89; firms with broad access to defined benefit (DB) and defined contribution (DC)
plans had higher scores than those that only offer a DC plan, or incidental access to a
DB plan as well as a DC plan.
A third of plan sponsors say
their company’s philosophy is to help employees create future retirement
income, and two-thirds agree that retirement income is an important
goal. However, many say they struggle to translate that belief
into action.
“Although most of the burden for retirement security has
shifted to employees, plan sponsors still play a critical role,” said
Robin Lenna, executive vice president, Corporate Benefit Funding. “Plan sponsors have more work to do. Most
plan sponsors continue to skew their goals, plan design, communications…toward savings, which unfortunately favors
accumulation over income.”
While 45% of sponsors describe their corporate philosophy
regarding retirement benefits based on a desire to “be
successful in a competitive workforce environment and focus primarily on
providing them in the most cost‐efficient manner possible,” 35% of the
plan sponsors surveyed describe their philosophy as
“to support employees’ efforts to create retirement income for the
future when taken together with Social Security and their personal
savings.”
(Cont...)
This is well ahead of the 20% who describe their philosophy as “our
business needs are served by proactively creating a program that offers
the best financial and other resources to support our employees’ needs
to determine and achieve their retirement savings goals.”
Ninety-three percent of plan sponsors report that retirement
savings is extremely or very important objective of their retirement
plans, but only 65% say retirement income has a comparable level of
importance.
Few Plans Set Plan Income Replacement Goals
The
research found that 82% of plan sponsors do not set income replacement
goals for their qualified plans. Of the few that do, the median
replacement goal set is 62%, well below the recommendations of most
experts. Likewise, fewer than half of plan sponsors have written policy
statements that deal with more than just investment issues (44%), and
less than one‐third of them address retirement income in these
statements.
Mathew Greenwald & Associates and Asset
International conducted the online survey of Fortune 1000 companies on
behalf of MetLife. To be eligible for the study, participants needed to
work for a Fortune 1000 company that offers at least one DC or DB plan
(including cash balance/hybrid plans). Participants also had to have at
least a moderate amount of influence over decisions regarding their
company’s retirement benefits policy and plan design. Of those surveyed,
81% reported they are very knowledgeable about the retirement plan(s)
their company offers. A total of 127 surveys were completed between
September 29 and November 8, 2010.