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Retirement Plan Assets Grow

"[T]otal assets held in employer-sponsored retirement plans were $11.3 trillion at the end of 2014, an increase of 11.5 percent from the $10.1 trillion one year earlier. Individual retirement accounts (IRAs) hold another $5.4 trillion of retirement savings. Total assets, including public, private, 403(b) plans and IRAs is $21.5 trillion.... [M]ore than $3.5 trillion ($3.537 trillion) is in defined benefit accounts among the public sector, while there is $458 billion in defined contribution accounts and $241 billion in 457 Plans[.]"

What Do Plan Participants Consider When Choosing a Financial Advisor?

"[F]or nearly nine-in-ten (89 percent) of retirement plan participants, honesty and trustworthiness are the most important criteria in choosing a financial advisor. Eighty-five percent of retirement plan participants surveyed ... place the highest premium on a financial advisor's transparency and being kept in the look on what they are doing in regard to their investments. For eight-in-ten, a financial advisor's investment track record and fees or commissions charged are the most important factors in choosing an advisor. Other factors retirement plan participants consider important when choosing an advisor include having access to products from a variety of different companies (73 percent), website and online services offered (63 percent) and the renown of the financial advisor's brand or company (61 percent)."

Smartphone Usage Up Among Retirement Plan Participants

"Smartphone usage among DC plan participants is up significantly from last year (71 percent), which PC/Mac usage has remained basically unchanged (79 percent). Tablet or e-reader usage is trending upward from 57 percent in 2013."

Nearly Three-Fourths of Millennials Have Made No Preparation for Retirement

"[A recent] survey found that almost 70 percent of Millennials have not taken any action to plan or save for retirement. Not that they are completely myopic about their projected source of retirement income. Concerns about the sustainability of Social Security no doubt account for a significantly less proportion of Millennials than Baby Boomers (54 percent vs. 85 percent) counting on Social Security as their primary source of retirement income."

Retirement Plan Participants: Comparing Concerns of Men to Those of Women

"There are few retirement readiness issues on which men and women feel equally secure.... When asked about future prospects, men are more likely than women to say they expect to be better off financially one year from now. They also express greater concern with their level of household debt. Women are more concerned about not saving enough for retirement, health issues and the financial situation of their children."

Asset Allocation Fund Usage Rising in 401(k) Plans

401(K) Plan Participants Using Almost Double the Investment Funds

Why the increase? One simple reason is that the number of funds offered increased substantially. Today the average number of funds included in a 401(k) plan is 19.4 compared to only 6.3 in 1996.

Survey Says DC Plans With Unbundled Providers to Add Options

Excerpt: The Spectrem Group Report also says that plans using unbundled providers are likely to add employer stock, high-yield bonds and target-date funds as new investment choices.

Teachers Need to Do Homework on Their 403(b) Plans

Excerpt: Only 19 percent of teachers' 403(b) cash, according to a Spectrem Group survey, is invested in mutual funds. In this $607 billion market, the vast majority of teachers have embraced expensive annuities.

A Chat With Ted Benna, Mr. 401(k)

"While he's astonished at the growth in 401(k) plans, which last year held $1.7 trillion, according to Chicago-based consultant Spectrem Group, Benna is still looking for ways to improve his baby. To that end, he recently has been circulating his blueprint for 401(k) reform among interested parties, including officials at the Treasury Dept. and on Capitol Hill."