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Insights from the PLANSPONSOR Annual Defined Contribution Survey

"Roughly three-quarters of survey respondents said that they either matched participant contributions or provided a non-elective contribution, though 14.2% said they had never matched contributions. About 5% of this year's respondents had reduced the company match/contribution, with a like number saying that they had eliminated it. Another 5% each were contemplating either cutting or suspending the match. The most encouraging news was that nearly eight of 10 had no plans to reduce, suspend, or eliminate the match. Of those that had cut or suspended the match, nearly one in four planned to restore it for 2010, while roughly 60% said they planned to remain at the cut or suspended level next year."

Patients Wary of Employer- and Plan-Sponsored Personal Health Records

Excerpt: So far, the public has yet to embrace the records, in part because the main push to promote them has been from health plans and employers. A recent survey found that 52 percent of the respondents were worried about employers using medical information to limit job opportunities.

Five Things You Need to Know about QDIAs

Panelists at the PLANSPONSOR National Conference said that according to the Department of Labor, sponsors still have to do their due diligence in the selection and monitoring of QDIAs. Sponsors need to understand what they're buying, how it works, and how much it costs.

2011 Industry Report on 403(b) Plans Reveals Areas in Which the Plans Shine

PLANSPONSOR's 2010 DC Survey found that compared to the overall defined contribution market, 403(b)s have a relatively high incidence of use of a written Investment Policy Statement (IPS), use of certain investment products, and use of advisers.

Former EBSA Secretary Raises Questions on Fiduciary Definition Change

Excerpt: Calling the proposal a 'bull-in-a-china-shop' approach, Bradford P. Campbell, now an attorney with Schiff Hardin LLP, told PLANSPONSOR: 'The undisclosed conflicts DoL cites as justification for the proposal already are prohibited by the new 408(b)(2) regulation. It seems premature to turn a sweeping new class of service providers into ERISA fiduciaries when the new disclosure rules addressing the root of the problem haven't even had a chance to go into effect yet.'

Encourage Better Income Decisions for a New Generation of Retirees (PDF)

4 pages. Excerpt: New research and better understanding of participant behavior have underlined both the importance of 'in-plan' retirement income solutions and better ways of executing guaranteed income streams. Some of the best analysis in this space comes from Professor Olivia S. Mitchell of the Department of Insurance and Risk Management at the Wharton School.... PLANSPONSOR interviewed Mitchell and Marc Pester, Senior Vice President of Institutional Income Innovations at Prudential Retirement, on the challenges plan sponsors and participants face in adopting retirement income solutions.

Plan Design Can Help Preserve Assets in Retirement

"[R]etirees in plans that offer flexible distribution options were 35% more likely to remain in-plan three years after retirement. They were also between 15% and 25% less likely to cash out their balances in the first year, compared with those who did not have similar flexibility."

Access to ESAs Does Not Match Interest

"When asked to select up to three supplemental benefits they believed would be of most value to them, 25% of respondents chose emergency savings accounts. ESAs ranked third overall, only behind 'sick/medical leave' (39%) and 'paid leave' (38%). However, only 9% of respondents reported having access to the prized employer-sponsored emergency savings benefit, equating to a 16-percentage-point gap between interest and access."

How to Make the Most of Increasing Longevity

"[As] Americans live longer, the challenge is not just adding years to their lives, but making sure that time includes quality, health and financial security. ... [S]peakers explored innovative strategies and systems intended to help close the gap between what people need and what the current system delivers, given today’s demographic realities."

Lawsuit Alleges IBM Failed to Monitor 401(k) TDF

"According to the complaint ... IBM breached its fiduciary duties by retaining several underperforming propriety TDFs and several Vanguard mutual funds that consistently underperformed similar options ... costing plan participants $1.9 billion in returns. The allegations focus on IBM's proprietary suite of All-in-One Life Cycle funds, which includes both target-date retirement and target-risk funds used as default investment options." [Arechiga v. International Business Machines Corporation, No. 25‑9067 (S.D.N.Y. complaint filed Oct. 31, 2025)]