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Retirement Made Simpler Website: Helping You Automate Your 401(k) Step-by-Step

"Three different organizations, three different missions. Why are we all committed to automatic 401(k)s? Because we know that Americans are not saving enough for retirement -- and we can help. By combining our resources and expertise, AARP, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), and the Retirement Security Project (RSP) pool our varied strengths to help employers and their employees save more effectively."

Retirement Made Simpler Statement before DOL's Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans on ERISA Compliance for 403(b) Plan Sponsors (PDF)

"As you are aware, the 403(b) plan landscape is different than it was even just a few years ago. Legislative and regulatory actions have put employers squarely in the center of responsibility for 403(b) plans."

Retirement Plan Communication in an Auto Features World (PDF)

"Findings indicate that the evolution of communications has not kept pace with the evolution of plan design. In fact, the more automatic features organizations have implemented, the more strongly they believe participant communication has not evolved accordingly. Compared to plan sponsors who have implemented only one automatic plan feature, those who have implemented the complete bundle of all three auto features are 56% more likely to feel that communication strategies have not kept pace with the evolution in plan design. That said, plan sponsors are divided as to whether, or how much, communication should be retooled for plans with auto features in place."

Smart Automatic Retirement Plan Investing (PDF)

"This brochure will help you understand your automatic plan and point out what aspects you should pay close attention to."

South Dakota State's Retirement Plan Experience Shows Power of Automatic Enrollment to Dramatically Increase Participation (PDF)

14 pages. Excerpt: A study of South Dakota's Supplemental Retirement Plan ... has found that instituting automatic enrollment programs results in a staggering leap in participation rates.... Ninety-one percent of new, eligible employees are participating in the SRP in units that adopted automatic enrollment, versus 1 percent of new hires in units without automatic enrollment.

Consumer Survey on Retirement Plans: Topline Results (PDF)

5 pages.

Considering Financial Inertia Among Low-Income Individuals: Set 401(k) Defaults Carefully (PDF)

"[A]utomatic enrollment dramatically increases employee participation in retirement savings plans. Employees are very likely to accept the default contribution rate and asset allocation. Therefore, the chooser of the default is often able to determine the savings outcomes for a large number of employees.... [The authors] present evidence that 401(k) defaults are particularly influential for low-income individuals in general, using data from three employer-sponsored defined contribution retirement savings plans."

Auto-Enrollment and QDIAs Succeed, But Participant Communications Don't Keep Up

"Eighty-five percent of plan sponsors reported that automatic features are especially effective in helping participants who consider themselves less educated on retirement matters. [But] the more fully organizations have embraced automatic features, the more strongly those organizations believe participant communication has not evolved apace. Plan sponsors who have implemented a bundle of automatic plan features -- automatic enrollment, qualified investment default alternatives (QDIAs) and automatic escalation -- are 56 percent more likely to feel that communication strategies have not kept pace with the evolution in plan design."

Evaluating Workplace Education for New Hires (PDF)

This project examines how employer-provided financial education for newly hired workers affects participation in retirement savings plans. [View slides and video at http://business.gwu.edu/flss/papers/.]

New Automatic 403(b) Toolkit (PDF)

34 pages. Excerpt: [The toolkit provides] employers with a 403(b) retirement plan step-by-step guidance to implementing automatic features.