Tag: 401(k) plans

April marks the 15th month in a row that 401(k) investors have been fleeing equities for the safety of fixed income, Alight says.

They also believe that pensions do a better job than 401(k)s in terms of ensuring retirement security.

The 401k Averages Book also shows smaller plans continue to pay higher fees than large plans.

Dream Forward provides examples of questions and sources of confusion for participants after exploring data from its AI chatbox for participants

With participants not panicking in Q4 2018 and the longer term trends resulting from automatic plan features, Fidelity Investments finds an overall improvement in average participant savings and account balances.

Offering fewer than 12 categories may mean participants are not being given sufficient opportunity to diversify, and offering more than 20 could lead to lower average investment in each fund, which may cause higher fees, ERISApedia.com says.

The settlement agreement leaves open a chance to bring a new claim regarding the offering of a money market fund in the plan.

The plaintiffs accused Edward Jones of favoring its own investments and those of its “preferred partners” in its 401(k) plan, at the expense of performance; they also raised questions about excess recordkeeping fees.

The Plan Sponsor Council of America’s 61st Annual Survey of Profit Sharing and 401(k) Plans finds only 31.4% of 401(k) plan sponsors use participant income replacement ratios as a success measure.

More plan sponsors are making Roth contributions available, automatic enrollment default deferral percentages are increasing, and company match formulas are becoming more generous.

Under the proposed regulations, 401(k) plan sponsors could choose to make additional accounts available for hardship withdrawals.

EBRI and ICI point out that 401(k) account balance growth reflects contributions of employers and workers, in addition to investment returns, and varies with participants’ asset allocation, withdrawals and loan activity.

The complaint specifically calls out the 11 T. Rowe Price target-date funds (TDFs) offered by the plans, saying they are all adviser or retail class funds—as opposed to investor or institutional class funds.

The firm has revamped its Aviator 401(k) program, now adding simplified investment lineups, affordable pricing, and fiduciary support services to its offerings. 

On the majority of trading days, fixed-income funds led, according to the Alight Solutions 401(k) Index.

Cerulli says retirement specialist advisers are becoming more knowledgeable about and comfortable with CITs, and the research firm expects CITs will continue to expand their share of 401(k) plan assets.

Alight Solutions found when offered two loans, 14.4% of participants take advantage of that. When offered three loans, 11.9% do the same.

The lawsuit alleged that Citigroup violated its fiduciary duties under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) by offering and keeping affiliated funds in its 401(k) plans when better-performing, lower-cost funds were available.

The Investment Company Institute also found 401(k) plan participants investing in mutual funds tend to hold lower-cost funds.

The book continues to show that plans with higher average account balances pay lower total fees.