Plans & Sponsors: archive
Every Plans & Sponsors story in Retirement, newest first. 88 stories
1 story
EBRI and PensionBee find 68% of automatic rollover IRAs lose value in a year
The whitepaper estimates up to 13 million such accounts holding as much as $43 billion, with opening fees as high as $100 and $5 monthly maintenance.
2 stories
Vanguard to launch Target Retirement Growth Trusts with higher equity allocations
The collective investment trust series is built on Vanguard's existing Target Retirement foundation and holds more equity throughout the glide path.
Morgan Stanley survey: 69% of plan sponsors rank advisor a top lineup resource
The same poll of 200 sponsors found 45% cite helping employees understand the DC plan as a top concern.
4 stories
Invested assets top half of HSA market for first time, Devenir finds
Investment-holding accounts made up 11% of HSAs, averaged $23,837 and held 59% of assets.
Morgan Stanley survey finds 93% of employers rank 401(k)s among employees' top five benefits
A third of plan sponsors now believe the DC plan is employees' single most valued on-the-job benefit, double the share in the 2024 survey.
Betterment adds mega-backdoor Roth to solo 401(k) plans
Advisers get automated tools to track contributions against annual limits; employer-sponsored plan support is planned.
Empower survey finds one in three Americans may have lost track of old 401(k)s
The survey of 2,005 adults also finds 39% say their retirement savings are already spread across accounts from different jobs.
1 story
Empower: up to one in three workers may have lost track of old workplace savings
The Retirement Drift study puts the share at 50% for Gen Z and 45% for Millennials, and two-thirds of respondents wished for help explaining rollover options when they changed jobs.
2 stories
Gallagher 2026 report: 28% of employees see savings reaching retirement goals
The report also puts auto-enrollment at 57% of employers, managed-accounts advice at 48%, and self-service tools at 81%.
MFS survey: regulatory change tops DC plan sponsor concerns
Litigation risk ranks second at 47%, but fewer than one in four plans reported experiencing it.
3 stories
F&G, WTW surveys find delayed retirement and lower financial security
F&G found 51% plan to semi-retire; WTW put financial security at 36%, down from 46% in 2019.
Cerulli: One-third of retirement plan participants had recordkeeper advice contact in past year
Participants who engaged rated their recordkeeper a 9 or 10 at a 46% rate, compared with 28% of those who did not.
WTW study finds U.S. worker financial wellbeing down 10 percentage points since 2019
Nearly half of surveyed U.S. workers say they are off track on retirement savings, and 70% of those in their 40s and 50s expect a worse retirement than their parents.
6 stories
Voya selects UnqorkAI to add AI tooling to plan onboarding
The recordkeeper, an Unqork customer since 2019, built sponsor and producer onboarding applications on the platform; the new work adds AI-native tooling to that base.
Allspring study finds 70% of participants rank control above guaranteed income
The Allspring and DCIIA study of more than 1,500 respondents finds advisor use climbs from 27% early in a career to 73% at retirement.
70% of near-retirees trust their employer on plan design; 56% expect to move workplace savings at retirement
A DCIIA study for Allspring found a legacy provision nearly doubled annuity interest in a $500,000 scenario.
Gusto data show small-business retirement plan adoption reached 31% in 2026, up 64% since 2019
Gusto economists tie the gains to SECURE Act provisions, state mandates and labor-market pressure, with hospitality, recreation and agriculture posting the steepest climbs.
Vestwell survey: 85% of employees expect employer to offer retirement benefits
62% say they should defer 10% or more of salary; Vestwell's own 401(k) and 403(b) holders averaged a 6.4% deferral in 2023.
BofA: average 401(k) balance rose 13% in 2025 to $113,590
Plans offering auto-enroll or auto-escalate averaged $170,000, $50,000 above plans with neither feature, per the bank's Participant Pulse research.
1 story
Alight's 401(k) index shows light Q3 trading despite September Fed hike
Bond funds took 47% of third-quarter inflows; only one September session reached above-normal volume.
1 story
TIAA retirement solutions CEO Kourtney Gibson steps down
Gibson left the firm on Sept. 30, and TIAA says a successor will be announced in due course.
2 stories
401GO CEO Dan Beck warns fragmented retirement plan systems may strain under state mandates
BLS data cited by the company puts plan access at 59% of private-sector workers at employers with fewer than 100 employees, versus 91% at employers with 500 or more.
Plan terminations were 66% of first-half U.S. pension risk transfer deals, October Three says
MetLife’s 2026 poll, released October 7, found that a record 95% of defined-benefit plan sponsors have de-risking goals, up from 76% in 2019.
1 story
Nearly half of small employers without a plan weigh pooled plans as deadlines grow
Transamerica Institute's May 2026 report puts interest among employers without a standalone plan at 48 percent; PEP assets reached $34 billion at year-end 2025.
1 story
Aon picks Vanguard as recordkeeper and trustee of its $4.9 billion pooled employer plan
The plan reported $4.915 billion and more than 87,000 participants in its 2025 Form 5500; Aon's September 2 count is about $7.7 billion.
2 stories
Transamerica marks 25 years of pooled plans as assets reach $34.2 billion
The firm's pooled assets are up more than 60% in five years, and its research arm finds 48% of employers without a plan would consider joining one.
Dunham paper says 40-year retirements could shrink the wealth transfer
The San Diego manager's model shows a $1 million portfolio running out in year 34 at a 4 percent net return and argues plans have not priced a 40- to 50-year horizon.
4 stories
Edward Jones plans 2027 release of AI workplace retirement plan tool
The firm is building the Retirement Plan Management Center with Aboon and RPAG, whose platform supports more than 120,000 plans, according to the announcement.
Goldman retirement survey ties second jobs to a drop in workers raising 401(k) savings
Almost a third of full-time workers say their job only just covers expenses, and the share who raised their retirement savings slipped to 39% from a year earlier.
Goldman survey finds share of respondents raising retirement savings falls to 39%
The share who reduced their savings rose to 14% from 8%, and on-track readings fell in all four generations.
Vanguard finds 26% of small plans auto-enroll, against 61% of large plans
Participation reaches 79% at small plans that use automatic enrollment, still short of the 94% at large plans.
1 story
Vanguard proxy voting choice passes 500,000 investors as nearly 80 plans sign on
Retirement plan sponsors in the program represent $120 billion in assets and more than one million participants, per Vanguard's 2026 voting report.
1 story
FIS's cloud launch is a SECURE 2.0 change-management pitch
Architecture is invisible to sponsors; the cost of configuring the next SECURE 2.0 feature is not, and the RFP should say so.
2 stories
The Oct. 1 Safe Harbor deadline is really Labor Day
Sequenced documents, payroll wiring and a 30-day notice mean a sponsor who decides in September gets a plan that starts with the next plan year.
The Saver's Match has nowhere to land for 21 million workers
EIG's updated coverage data put the access gap in part-time and small-employer work, leaving a 2027 federal subsidy aimed at workers who largely lack an account to receive it.
1 story
DC assets hit $15 trillion; plan design sits still
An 8.7% quarter rewards the consultants who automate paperwork rather than reopen the lineup, and it makes the rollover look like the product.
2 stories
The student-loan match's real cost is payroll work, not contributions
EBRI's persistence data says the SECURE 2.0 match belongs on the plan-design agenda, not the budget line sponsors keep debating.
Voya's AI buildout is an operating story, and its certification is the moat
The recordkeeper is spending on capacity rather than product, which leaves sponsors to ask what the virtual agent is permitted to decide and what record it leaves behind.
2 stories
EBRI finds student-loan borrowers in their 40s hold 45% less in 401(k)s
The student-loan match sponsors can already offer is worth more than $10 billion a year, and EBRI's data shows it would reach borrowers carrying a 45% 401(k) gap into their 40s.
EBRI puts a $10 billion price on student loan debt
The participation gap opens at enrollment and never closes, which makes SECURE 2.0's student-loan match the lever most sponsors have not yet pulled.