Survey foresees advances among plan sponsors

Most survey respondents also agree that the following objectives will be reached by 2017:

• At least 40 percent of retirement plan advisors will be comfortable recommending that client plans conduct a search for, or due diligence of, a retirement income solution (64 percent of respondents);
• At least 25 percent of retirement plan sponsors will have conducted due diligence of, or a search for, retirement income solutions for their plan (76 percent);
• At least 10 percent of plans will have implemented a retirement income solution (78 percent); and
• The demand for retirement planning solutions for highly-compensated employees will have spurred product development activity (64 percent).

“As a natural extension of the retirement readiness movement, many plan sponsors, including those who historically favor a benefit approach to retirement, will be looking for solutions to provide participants an income in retirement,” the report states. “[But] the retirement readiness movement will present a challenge for highly-compensated employees for whom 401(k) plans and 409(A) non-qualified deferred compensation plans are imperfect solutions.

“The challenge will be exacerbated if a lifetime contribution cap is implemented as the Obama Administration has suggested,” the report adds. “Experts concur that demand for retirement planning solutions will spur product development activity in this area over the next three years.”