Nevin's Data "Points"

A few weeks back, I offered some notions about what the next five years will bring in terms of industry trends (see “ IMHO: Fifth ‘Avenues’ ”). However, in preparing for our recent PLANADVISER National Conference, I came up with five more. Everybody isn’t going to do automatic enrollment. Without question, automatic enrollment has done much to shore up the retirement savings rates of American workers. For plan sponsors and participants alike, the efficacy of an approach that doesn’t require participants to complete an enrollment form, deliberate over investment choices, set upon a desired rate of savings, or even darken the door of an education meeting has done much to get tens of thousands of workers off on the right retirement savings foot. And, for the vast majority of workers, the ability to do the right thing without doing anything at all has not only been well-received, but much appreciated as well. Not that automatic enrollment as outlined by the Pension Protection Act (PPA)...

If 2010 was not quite the return to “normal” we might have hoped, there was more than enough—both new and old—to draw the attention of plan sponsors. Here is the second part of our look at the trends that were on our mind this past year—and those just over the horizon. Stop Gaps: Closing the Pension Funding Gap What we said last year : It remains more expensive—and complicated—to walk away from pension commitments than most realize, though many employers remain committed to their pension plans for reasons that transcend those financial considerations. Still, it seems likely that freezes, both hard and soft, will continue to be applied, certainly in the private sector. The public sector’s commitment to pensions remains largely unabated—and yet, a sense remains that it may only be a matter of time before fiscal realities bring about a different result. Where we are : For the very most part, little has changed. Pension funding remains a challenge, with the funding gap seemingly cons...

We have long lamented the reality that only about half of this nation’s workers have access to some kind of workplace-based retirement vehicle, and with good reason. Well, we now have bills introduced in the Congress, both House and Senate, that will, eventually, require that every American business that hires 10 or more workers offer them the ability to save for retirement (see Auto-IRA Bill Introduced With Employer Mandates , Auto IRA Bill Introduced in the House ). Now, my first reaction was “it’s about time.” After all, we can talk about inadequate savings rates, inefficient asset-allocation decisions, and egregious revenue-sharing arrangements—but workers with access to the opportunity to save are surely better-served than those without. And any number of studies have shown that those without access to those programs save less—when they save at all—than those who have the opportunity to participate. But honestly, the more I read through the bill 1 summary (and that’s MUCH easi...