Wells Fargo Suggests Generational Approaches to Retirement Saving

Because people are living longer, healthier lives, the Wells Fargo Investment Institute has suggested different ways that Millennials, Generation X and Baby Boomers can successfully save for retirement.

Because people are living longer, healthier lives, they need to save enough money to last for 15 to 20 years or even longer, according to the Wells Fargo Investment Institute. Thus, it has produced a new report, “Reimagining Retirement: Generational Strategies for 21st Century Challenges,” that lays out strategies that Millennials, Generation X and Baby Boomers can take to succeed in saving enough money for retirement.

The institute notes that younger investors expect to rely more on 401(k) and individual retirement account (IRA) savings in retirement and less on pensions and Social Security than older investors. Baby Boomers think 401(k)s/IRAs will supply 25% of their income in retirement, Social Security 38% and pensions, 19%. By comparison, Gen Xers say 401(k)s/IRAs will comprise 39% of that pie, Social Security 25% and pensions 15%. Millennials say the makeup is 46% 401(k)s/IRAs, 15% Social Security and 8% pensions.

For more stories like this, sign up for the PLANADVISERdash daily newsletter.

A Wells Fargo survey found that 60% of Americans think they will have enough money to last throughout their retirement. However, 40% think they will have to work longer and/or lower their cost of living in order to get by.

The institute notes that developed economies have relatively generous benefits for retirees, but aging populations are challenging the systems designed to support them. The U.S. spends relatively less (7.1%) on retirees as a percentage of gross domestic product than Japan (10.2%) and European countries such as Germany (10.1%).

Furthermore, while the average life expectancy in the U.S. in 1900 was 46 for a man and 48 for a woman, today those figures are 77 and 81, respectively. With the average age of retirement between 63 and 64, that means that people must save enough to last for 15 to 20 years, and women are particularly challenged as they live longer and earn less than men.

Sixty-three percent of men make saving for retirement a financial priority, compared to 51% of men. Men have an average of $100,000 saved for retirement, compared to $37,000 for women. Only 25% of men are unsure of what their monthly expenses will be in retirement, but this jumps to 34% among women.

Different Approaches

Having laid out the challenges, the institute then offers different strategies that various generational groups can take to approach retirement savings.

Many Boomers may find themselves working in retirement, the institute says. In 2016, the percentage of the workforce age 65 and older was 19.3%. This is projected to rise to 21.8% by 2026. It also suggests that they delay taking Social Security benefits until they turn 70 and purchase immediate and deferred annuities that offer tax-deferred growth and guaranteed income.

The institute also suggests that Boomers consider moving to a lower-cost state or country, obtain health insurance, maintain a higher allocation in equities and rent out an extra room in their house.

Generation X is the first cohort to have access to 401(k) plans for most of their working years. A big challenge for this generation is that they may have found themselves making trade-offs between the needs of their parents, their children and their own retirement—and may have shortchanged themselves.

While Gen Xers are less confident about retirement (59%) than all workers (72%), the institute says, they still have time to grow their savings. For this generation, it suggests they create a budget and stick to it in order to juggle their many responsibilities. Furthermore, the institute says they should balance expenses with saving for retirement, consider life or disability insurance, save aggressively, take advantage of company matches and catch-up contributions, diversify their portfolio across domestic and international markets, rebalance their portfolio regularly and have an emergency fund that will cover six to 18 months of living expenses.

Millennials will bear the responsibility of saving for retirement with less assistance than previous generations, but they appear to be rising to the challenge. Wells Fargo learned that they started saving for retirement at age 24—a full decade earlier than Boomers. Furthermore, 30% save 10% or more of their pay.

However, because many Millennials entered the workforce at the time of the 2008 Great Recession, 20% say they will never invest in the stock market, and 30% are taking a conservative approach to retirement saving. Wells Fargo thinks this could hurt Millennials’ long-term prospects.

Thus, the institute encourages Millennials to take advantage of automatic enrollment and company matches, keep their retirement savings when switching jobs rather than cash out, consider a Roth 401(k), start saving as early as possible, balance repayment of student loans with retirement savings, avoid investing too conservatively and remember to maintain global diversification.

Upcoming Impactful Regulations in the Retirement Industry

The latest legislation to affect retirement planning in 2019 and beyond. 

Big retirement plan legislation is set to be passed fairly soon, attendees of the 2019 Plan Sponsor Council of America (PSCA) Annual Conference heard.

Brigen Winters, principal at Groom Law Group, Chartered, said the Retirement Enhancement and Savings Act (RESA) was the basis for what Congress wanted to accomplish to expand retirement savings opportunities. But the “Setting Every Community Up For Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019,” or SECURE Act, which included provisions of RESA and more was passed by the House Ways and Means Committee less than one week after it was introduced.

Want the latest retirement plan adviser news and insights? Sign up for PLANADVISER newsletters.

In addition to language created to open multiple employer plans (MEPs) and to establish a fiduciary safe harbor for the selection of lifetime income options in defined contribution (DC) plans, Winters noted that the SECURE Act includes a change to the automatic escalation safe harbor from a max of 10% to a max of 15%. In addition, it changes the required minimum distribution (RMD) age from 70 ½ to 72.

Will Hansen, chief government affairs officer at the American Retirement Association (ARA), said he believes RESA may have passed last year if there had been no government shutdown. However, with the SECURE Act now moving, Winters says there is more bipartisan support. It could move forward to the full House of Representatives in the next one to four weeks and then go on to the Senate, who will then tweak it.

Hansen said he believes Senators will pull into the SECURE Act provisions of the Portman/Cardin bill that was introduced in December. He noted that the bill will be reintroduced soon.

Hansen added that an important provision of the legislation is language providing for the ability to match student loan debt payments made by participants. The ARA fears this will cause some participants who are both paying student loans and saving for retirement, especially low income workers, to stop allocating money towards their retirement. The ARA says it is working to get legislation to provide matched student loan payments in average deferral percentage (ADP) testing, so plan sponsors can still pass the exam. 

Regulations

David Levine, principal at Groom Law Group, Chartered, reminded attendees of an executive order issued by President Donald Trump that directed the Department of Labor (DOL) and IRS to look into expanding MEPs. The DOL has since responded with regulations for association retirement plans.

The executive order also wanted regulators to move forward on electronic delivery of retirement plan disclosures. Hanson said Congress has been working for more than a decade on legislation to make e-delivery the default option for disclosures, but he shared that the AARP opposes e-delivery as the default, and as long as it does, legislation will not pass.

Also in that executive order, the president spoke about stretching out life expectancy tables for calculating required minimum distributions (RMDs), to which Levine said the IRS is working on.  

Still ongoing is the problem of missing participants. Levine noted that the DOL has no guidance for finding missing participants, but its investigations with plan sponsors are still ongoing. According to Levine, some plan sponsors are using Section 411 of the Internal Revenue Code, which says if they can’t find a participant, they can just reinstate the account in the retirement plan. But, he said, sometimes DOL investigators are telling plan sponsors that is not enough.

Levine pointed out that the IRS has made self-correction of plan loan failures easier with Revenue Procedure 2019-19. He also said there will be final regulations for hardship withdrawals this year. “Plan sponsors should talk to recordkeepers about changes to their systems,” he told conference attendees.

Finally, Levine discussed the settlement in the Vanderbilt University 403(b) excessive fee lawsuit. Under the terms of the settlement, plan fiduciaries will have to contractually prohibit recordkeepers and other service providers from using plan participant data for the purposes of cross-selling. Levine told all plan sponsors they need to keep in mind who has participant data and how they are using it.

State laws

Hansen then turned to the activity going on in the states that affect retirement plans. “States started acting because nothing was happening on the federal level,” he said.

Illinois and Oregon were the first to pass legislation requiring employers to offer retirement plans to employees. According to Hansen, Illinois amended its corporate tax form with a check box to identify whether an employer offers a retirement plan, but there has been confusion in matching that up with retirement plan records. “This is one example of how state plans will lead to a variety of rules,” he said.

Many states are also introducing their own fiduciary rules; some referencing the DOL fiduciary rule and honing in on retirement products. New Jersey drafted a rule a couple of weeks ago, to which the ARA asked for a carve out for Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) qualified plans and the state agreed. “State fiduciary legislation really wants to protect individuals when it comes to rollover products,” Hanson said. “If there is no ERISA plan carve out, it could increase costs and confusion for plan sponsors and advisers, and states will probably face lawsuits about ERISA pre-emption.”

«