Cash balance plans growing while 401(k)s slow

While they offer the flexibility and portability of a 401(k) plan, cash balance or hybrid plans also provide high contribution limits, such as DB plans formerly offered.

Among some of the other findings included in the report is that 89 percent of cash balance plans are found at companies with fewer than 100 employees.

In addition, the report said that companies’ contributions toward employee retirement savings are more than doubled when those companies add a cash balance plan to their offerings; the average employer contribution to staff retirement accounts is 6.3 percent of pay in companies with both cash balance and 401(k) plans, but just 2.8 percent of pay in firms with 401(k) alone.

Read: Focus on retirement income not investment return

Certain states are taking to hybrid plans far ahead of others. California and New York together accounted for 23 percent of all new plans, with Illinois and Ohio following them.

Meanwhile, the growth of such plans in Minnesota is exploding; it’s seen growth in the number of new plans of more than 50 percent year over year.