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.
Survey Data
Top 20 fund families preferred by plan advisers*
| TOP 5 VOTES | TOP 5% | 1ST PLACE VOTES | 1ST PLACE % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Vanguard | 138 | 87% | 66 | 48% |
| 2 American Funds | 105 | 66% | 25 | 24% |
| 3 J.P. Morgan | 84 | 53% | 22 | 26% |
| 4 T. Rowe Price | 76 | 48% | 12 | 16% |
| 5 Fidelity | 64 | 40% | 8 | 13% |
| 6 BlackRock | 53 | 33% | 17 | 32% |
| 7 American Century | 31 | 19% | 10 | 32% |
| 8 MFS | 28 | 18% | 2 | 7% |
| 9 PIMCO | 23 | 14% | 1 | 4% |
| 10 Dimensional Fund Advisors | 20 | 13% | 2 | 10% |
| 11 Invesco | 18 | 11% | 4 | 22% |
| 12 Prudential | 24 | 15% | 3 | 13% |
| 12 Oppenheimer | 24 | 15% | 1 | 4% |
| 14 Franklin Templeton | 13 | 8% | 2 | 15% |
| 14 Dodge & Cox | 13 | 8% | 1 | 8% |
| 16 Principal | 9 | 6% | 0 | 0% |
| 17 Legg Mason | 6 | 4% | 1 | 17% |
| 17 John Hancock | 6 | 4% | 0 | 0% |
| 19 Columbia | 5 | 3% | 1 | 20% |
| 20 Lord Abbett | 4 | 3% | 1 | 25% |
*A total of 159 qualified advisers voting. To qualify, an adviser had to be personally involved in evaluating and recommending fund choices in an advisory capacity with qualified plan clients. “Top 5%” = number of qualified advisers (of 159 total) selecting the fund family; “1st place %” = number of first-place votes out of total Top 5 votes.