Foundational Research

Automated features in workplace retirement plans can close savings shortfalls

Pensions & Investments reporter Margarida Correia recaps the latest retirement research from EBRI, which examines the impact of key "automatic" features utilized in defined contribution retirement savings plans. Correia notes that the EBRI report indicated the combination of "automatic enrollment, automatic escalation and automatic portability -- the retirement saving shortfall would close by 16%."

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EBRI Analysis Tool Highlights Impacts of Automatic Enrollment

Amanda Umpierrez, writing for 401k Specialist, covers the release of EBRI Issue Brief 630, which examined the impact of automatic features in retirement plans by using its Retirement Security Projection Model (RSPM). Umpierrez notes that the analysis looked at several automatic features -- including automatic enrollment, automatic escalation and automatic portability. She notes that automatic portability "can significantly lower shortfalls for participants" and that "pans who adopt auto-portability features could see a reduction in the retirement saving shortfall by over 11% for those ages 35 to 39."

ERISA and Auto Features: An RSPM® Analysis of the Impact of Automatic Features on Retirement Security

The Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) released Issue Brief No. 630, authored by Craig Copeland, Ph.D. The analysis utilizes EBRI's Retirement Security Projection Model (RSPM), which focuses on the impact of key "automatic" features, including auto enrollment, auto escalation -- and more recently -- auto portability. For auto portability, EBRI's analysis reveals that, in the 100% adoption scenario, there is an 11.39% reduction (improvement) in the retirement savings shortfall for the ages 35-39 cohort, and correspondingly, a 3.51% improvement in the retirement readiness rating for the same cohort.

The Compelling Case for Women and Auto Portability

Writing in 401k Specialist, RCH's Tom Hawkins describes research indicating that a "compelling case" can be made for the importance of auto portability to women, who face unique retirement savings challenges that auto portability can help address. Hawkins cites the results of the Auto Portability Simulation (APS), which indicate that, on an annual basis, auto portability would preserve the savings of 2 million women participants. Over a generation, 111 million women would preserve their retirement savings, worth about $753 billion in today’s dollars. Offering these figures as evidence, Hawkins argues that "women can benefit disproportionately from the widespread adoption of auto portability."

Fidelity Releases Q3 2024 Retirement Analysis

Fidelity Investments has released their latest quarterly retirement analysis, with the firm providing insightful statistics on retirement savings, as observed in their corporate defined contribution retirement plan business, as well as 16.2 million IRA accounts. In the analysis, Fidelity spotlights the problem of cashing out and draws attention to the 6000+ Fidelity plans with 2.2 million participants who have adopted auto portability, through October 2024.

What Optional SECURE 2.0 Provisions Are Plan Sponsors Most Likely to Adopt?

NAPA Net's Ted Godbout reports on the results of a new plan sponsor survey, conducted by Fidelity Investments "to gain a better understanding of what optional provisions of the SECURE 2.0 Act that plan sponsors are most likely to adopt." The survey found "high interest" in auto portability, a service which they expect to be a "standard offering." Godbout also writes that, "for larger plans, withdrawals for emergency expenses was replaced by auto-portability by corporate plan sponsors" and that "plan sponsors in finance and manufacturing both ranked auto-portability as a top option." The Fidelity report can be downloaded here.

4 Key Findings from the New Auto Portability Simulation

Writing in 401k Specialist, RCH's Tom Hawkins summarizes the four key findings from the firm's Auto Portability Simulation (APS), a discrete event simulation that models the impacts of auto portability over a 40-year period, and are detailed in a new white paper, Revisiting the Auto Portability Simulation: The Impact of the Portability Services Network, SECURE 2.0 and Expanded Access. Hawkins contends that the new APS analysis has improved the model’s predictive accuracy by incorporating new parameters that reflect “changing realities” driven by three major developments: 1) the advent of the Portability Services Network, 2) the passage of the SECURE 2.0 Act and 3) ongoing progress in expanding access to workplace retirement savings plans. The paper's key findings highlight the growth of the participant population that will be subject to mandatory distributions, as well as auto portability’s effects on reducing cashout leakage, generating incremental retirement wealth, and delivering benefits to minorities and lower-income workers.

5 Ways Employers Can Improve Retirement Readiness for Underserved Participants

PLANSPONSOR's Remy Samuels reviews new research from Alight Solutions, which outlines ways employers "can make retirement savings more accessible for workers from racial and ethnic minorities and the LGBTQ+ community, all of whom have historically fallen behind in saving for retirement." Recapping Alight's research, Samuels highlights five key ways plan sponsors can accomplish these goals, including facilitating auto portability, which advocates "working with recordkeepers in Retirement Clearinghouse’s Portability Services Network—a consortium of retirement plan service providers seeking to help workers transfer low account balances from one employer plan to the next."