RESEARCH |
2015
Retirement Plan Adviser Survey
Arguably, retirement plan advisers have a better—or at least
a more comparative—perspective than their plan sponsor clients about the
relative strength of products and services offered by investment and
recordkeeping providers. After all, advisers can—and usually do—work with many
of them concurrently. The 2015 Retirement Plan Adviser Survey, our eighth,
endeavors to gain insight from the adviser community about how providers and
funds are selected, and which are the favorites each year.
Reported by PLANADVISER
| Art by Jillian Tamaki
Survey Data
Top criteria used to decide which funds are appropriate for plans
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Performance (one-year returns) | 5.6% | 11.1% | 27.8% | 30.6% | 25.0% |
| Performance (five-year returns) | 22.4% | 38.8% | 17.0% | 12.2% | 9.5% |
| Performance vs. benchmarks | 55.1% | 25.1% | 10.6% | 5.3% | 3.9% |
| Manager tenure | 6.9% | 18.3% | 30.5% | 26.7% | 17.6% |
| Brand | 0.0% | 8.9% | 22.2% | 17.8% | 51.1% |
| Style drift | 2.3% | 13.8% | 24.1% | 27.6% | 32.2% |
| Total assets | 5.0% | 15.0% | 25.0% | 5.0% | 50.0% |
| Sharpe ratio | 11.4% | 24.6% | 28.1% | 25.4% | 10.5% |
| Share class availability | 7.6% | 17.1% | 13.3% | 40.0% | 21.9% |
| Adviser support | 12.5% | 0.0% | 9.4% | 15.6% | 62.5% |
| Supporting materials | 0.0% | 9.1% | 4.5% | 31.8% | 54.5% |
| Fee structure for adviser | 0.0% | 6.7% | 20.0% | 6.7% | 66.7% |
| Fee structure for plan | 20.2% | 21.3% | 24.7% | 18.0% | 15.7% |
| Plan demographics | 32.5% | 8.4% | 19.3% | 15.7% | 24.1% |