We recently asked a large group of retirement plan advisors which, of a wide range of services, they had proposed to their clients or prospects in the past year.
Now, we limited their choices to five to see which were the most popular, but automatic enrollment was the most-recommended – 80% of this year’s respondents had touted that feature, compared with 84% in last year’s group.
Similarly, contribution acceleration/automatic escalation was the second-most proposed, though just two-thirds (64%) of this year’s respondents had done so, compared with three-quarters (76%) in last year’s survey.
Re-enrollment of all eligible participants – something that industry surveys suggest is still a relative rarity – had been pitched by about half (52%) of respondents, and stretching the match – something promoted by half of last year’s respondents – had been promoted by just 41% in this year’s crop.
One standout item – non-qualified deferred compensation (NQDC) programs – which hadn’t been on last year’s list – had been promoted/proposed by more than a quarter (28%) of this year’s respondents.
The 531 respondents to the 2019 Summit Insider poll were identified as retirement plan advisor attendees at the NAPA 401(k) Summit. They tended to be experienced; more than half had a least 15 years of experience, and half of that group had in excess of two decades. However, nearly one in five (18%) had less than 5 years, and the remaining third split nearly equally between those with 10-15 years of experience and those with between 5 and 10 years.
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