Archive for category: Syndicated Studies

But Plan Sponsors Are Concerned About Complexity, Costs, and Choice

WASHINGTON, DC (January 23, 2025) – An overwhelming majority of workers participating in employer-sponsored retirement plans – 86% – want their employers to offer retirement income plans, with two or three income choices.

Those are among the major findings of Greenwald Research’s just-released 2024 In-Plan Insights Program. The annual program explores the changing landscape of retirement income options in defined contribution plans from the perspectives of plan participants, plan sponsors, and plan advisors through online surveys, in-depth interviews, and focus groups.

“The research shows that plan participants are most concerned about the impact of inflation on their retirement income, about running out of money in retirement, and that their retirement income sources won’t be simple and easy to manage,” said Greenwald’s Managing Director Eric Sondergeld. “While most participants want in-plan income options, sponsors are concerned about the complexities of offering them, the fees associated with them, and the reputation of annuities and guaranteed lifetime income (GLI).”

Only a quarter of plan sponsors say they currently have one or more retirement income options in place, while another three in 10 say they’re seriously considering implementing such options. But 57% are concerned that the complexity of those options make it difficult for participants to understand them. Almost as many – 56% – say fees associated with those options can make them unattractive to participants. Also discouraging, 51% of them say, is the reputation guaranteed income products and annuities have.

“I would be concerned about communicating (retirement income options) and rolling them out,” one plan sponsor says. “Making sure that participants are aware of the options and understand them is easier said than done.”

Both sponsors and participants point to GLI as desirable. Participants say that in choosing a retirement income plan, their top considerations are monthly payments that are guaranteed for life (57%), ease of understanding (53%), and acceptable fees/costs (48%). Sponsors considering adding an income option to their retirement income offerings cite a target date fund that includes GLI (43%) and a managed account that includes GLI (37%) as preferred options.

Other key findings of the latest In-Plan Insights Program include:

• Sponsors also identified methods to increase their comfort level with adding retirement income options to their defined contribution plans. They include having a clear, proven process for selection the option(s) to include (39%); the ability to offer a choice or suite of retirement income options rather than just one (35%), and proof that employers who have implemented these options have not experienced legal issues or litigation (33%).
• Plan sponsors want education on retirement income options, too. Resources they say would be most helpful include side-by-side comparisons of retirement income options available in the market (53%), fact sheets that explain these options in layman’s terms (45%), and recommendations from their retirement plan advisor or consultant (38%).
• Just over half of plan participants (51%) feel employers have a high level of responsibility for helping employees generate income or develop a withdrawal strategy for retirement.
• Participants want access to tools and education to help them decide whether – and when – to start receiving retirement income. That includes personalized projections and income comparisons, education on all they ways they might withdraw income from their plan, and a tool for recommending an option and how much to invest in it.
• Participants are split between wanting a completely automatic retirement income experience (49%) – in which they are automatically enrolled in an option and the income payments will be automatically triggered at retirement – and a completely manual experience (51%) where the participant will do all the work.

About the Research

Greenwald’s In-Plan Insights Program is designed to explore the changing landscape of retirement income options in defined contribution plans. The 2024 sponsor/advisor survey was conducted from October 27-30, 2024 and included 500 plan sponsors. The participant survey was conducted from October 3-30, 2024 and included 1,017 plan participants.  The sponsor and advisor interviews were conducted from June 22-July 9, 2024. Plan participant focus groups were conducted July 10-11, 2024.

The 2024 In-Plan Insights Program reports are available for purchase. Contact Greenwald Research at info@greenwaldresearch.com to learn more.

About Greenwald Research

Greenwald Research is a consultative partner to health and wealth leaders that leverages industry expertise, access to experts, and a custom, collaborative approach to produce trusted insights and meaningful connections that drive understanding and inform strategic action. For more information, please visit www.greenwaldresearch.com.

Contact:

Herb Perone
media@greenwaldresearch.com

Military households with higher incomes are also more likely to be confident about retirement prospects than non-military households.

(Washington, D.C.) – A new research report focusing on the retirement prospects and finances of U.S. military households, published today by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) and Greenwald Research, found that military households are more likely to have higher assets and less likely to consider debt a problem compared with non-military households. Also, military households with higher incomes are more likely to be confident about retirement prospects than non-military households.

The report, “Military Households and Retirement: Findings From the 2024 Retirement Confidence Survey,” examines the retirement prospects, knowledge, preparations and experiences in retirement for those who are from a military household compared with a non-military household. (Military households are defined as those individuals who have served in the U.S. armed forces or are currently active in the National Guard or Reserve, as well as those who are married or partnered to or widowed by such individuals. The vast majority of the military households have respondents who are veterans or have a spouse who is a veteran).

Key findings in the report include:

• Military households are more likely to have the highest levels of financial assets and less likely to consider debt to be a problem than non-military households. Forty-nine percent of military households report having $250,000 or more in financial assets compared with 40% of the non-military households having this amount. Fifty-five percent of military households consider debt to not be a problem, while 46% of non-military households consider debt to not be a problem.
• Military households are more likely to have done various tasks in preparing for retirement than non-military households. In particular, military households are more likely to have thought about how much money to withdraw from their retirement savings and investments in retirement (52% vs. 42%), thought about how they will occupy their time in retirement (68% vs. 58%), calculated how much money they would likely need to cover health expenses in retirement (50% vs. 41%), estimated how much income they would need each month in retirement (63% vs. 54%), and planned for how they would cover an emergency or big expense in retirement (56% vs. 47%) than non-military households.
• Military households in the higher two income groups ($35,000-$74,999 and $75,000 or more) are more likely to be confident in their retirement prospects than non-military households, but no difference in this confidence is observed among those in the lowest-income group (less than $35,000). Specifically, 89% of military households with incomes of $75,000 or more are confident that they will have enough money to live comfortably throughout their retirement compared with 81% of their non-military counterparts. For the middle-income group, 72% of military households vs. 61% of non-military households are confident in their retirement prospects.
• Approximately 9 in 10 respondents in military households disagree with the statement that their military service has prevented them from saving for retirement. Furthermore, 71% of respondents from veteran households said they separated from service before military retirement, while 24% retired from the military and 6% medically retired.
• Military-household respondents are less likely to express concern over various scenarios that could impact Americans’ retirement finances or retirement in general than are non-military households. The scenarios less likely to be of concern to military households include the potentials for rising housing costs, increasing cost of living making it harder for them to save as much money, or having to make substantial cuts to their spending because of inflation.
• The top four sources of information are consistent across military and non-military households: family and friends; a personal, professional financial advisor; online resources and research conducted on their own; and employer or information received at work. However, military households are significantly more likely than non-military households to say they use non-profit organizations that focus on serving a specific group or community as a source of information, while non-military households are more likely to say that family and friends are a source of information.
• Military-household retiree respondents are more likely to say that they retired when they planned than non-military household retiree respondents. Among those who retired earlier than planned, the top three reasons cited by both military and non-military household respondents are that they could afford to retire, had a health problem or disability, or there were changes at their company, such as downsizing, closure or reorganization.
• Military-household retirees are in general positive about their lifestyle. Specifically, 80% of military retirees say their lifestyle is what they expected or better before they retired and 71% say they are having the lifestyle they had envisioned. Non-military retirees have similar feelings about their lifestyle in retirement.

“Military households seem to be in better financial shape and are more likely to be confident in having enough money to last throughout retirement as well as various other aspects about retirement than non-military households. These households are more likely to have saved for retirement, to have done various other tasks to prepare for retirement and to be currently collaborating with a financial advisor. Finally, an overwhelming share of individuals agree that their military service did not prevent them from saving for retirement,” explained Craig Copeland, director, Wealth Benefits Research, EBRI.

The Retirement Confidence Survey is conducted annually by EBRI and Greenwald Research. The 2024 survey of 2,521 Americans was collected online from Jan. 2-31, 2024. All respondents were ages 25 or older. The survey included 1,255 workers, 1,266 retirees and an oversample of 829 respondents from military households (330 workers and 499 retirees). To view a 2024 RCS military households summary report, visit www.ebri.org/retirement/retirement-confidence-survey.

“While individuals in military households appear to be better prepared and more confident in their retirement prospects, many seem to navigate at least one significant change in their careers, as a very high share separate from service before military retirement. The transition requires knowing what to do with their retirement savings, past and future, as they switch careers. While career changes happen to many Americans, it’s certainly imaginable the change for military personnel is more complex and may include learning about a whole new set of retirement and financial wellbeing benefits. While military service can put individuals on a better track, they still face many of the same issues as those who have not served, such as determining when to retire, accumulating and preserving assets, and managing income sources for retirement,” said Lisa Greenwald, CEO, Greenwald Research.

About the Survey
The 2024 survey was made possible with support from American Funds / Capital Group, Ameriprise Financial (Columbia Threadneedle), Bank of America, Empower, Fidelity Investments, FINRA, Jackson National, JPMorgan Chase, Mercer, Mutual of America, Nationwide, National Endowment for Financial Education, PGIM, Principal Financial Group, T. Rowe Price, USAA and Voya Financial.

About Greenwald Research
Greenwald Research is a leading independent research and consulting partner to the health and wealth industries that applies high-quality methods to produce knowledge that helps companies stay competitive and navigate industry change. Leveraging deep subject matter expertise, Greenwald offers comprehensive services for developing impactful research that answers strategic business questions. For more information, visit www.greenwaldresearch.com.

About The Employee Benefit Research Institute
The Employee Benefit Research Institute is a non-profit, independent, and unbiased resource organization that provides the most authoritative and objective information about critical issues relating to employee benefit programs in the United States. The organization also coordinates activities for the Center for Research on Health Benefits Innovation, Financial Wellbeing Research Center, Retirement Security Research Center and produces a variety of leading industry surveys during the year. For more information, visit www.ebri.org.

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For More Information:
Herb Perone
media@greenwaldresearch.com

Washington, DC (March 7, 2024) – The vast majority of private health plan enrollees are happy with their plans and the care they receive, but out-of-pocket costs for care and prescription drugs are vexing to many with high deductible health plans (HDHPs).

The 19^th annual Consumer Engagement in Health Care Survey – conducted during the 2023 open enrollment season in partnership with the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) – found that 89% of traditional health plan enrollees were somewhat to extremely satisfied with their plans and 93% were satisfied with the quality of health care they received. While 82% of HDHP enrollees reported overall plan satisfaction and 91% satisfaction with quality of care, 24% were dissatisfied with their costs for prescriptions and 42% with their costs for health care services.

“Most respondents cited the network of health care providers, low out-of-pocket costs, low premiums, prescription drug coverage and ease of understanding as the most important elements of a health care plan,” says Greenwald’s Director, Healthcare, Sara Rubinstein. “But HDHP enrollees reported that low premiums were more important to them than low out-of-pocket costs when selecting a plan.”

The new Consumer Engagement in Health Care Survey of 2,020 privately insured adults was conducted between October 16 and December 11, 2023. Its key findings include:

• Just over 90% of respondents were either extremely or very satisfied (63%) or somewhat satisfied (28%) with the ease of selecting a plan during open enrollment. A similar number were either extremely or very satisfied (59%) or somewhat satisfied (31%) with the information available to help understand health insurance plan choices.
• About 90% were satisfied with the amount of time they had to choose a health plan and with the materials provided by their employer.
• Enrollment in health savings account (HSA)-eligible health plans and health reimbursement arrangements appears to have leveled off, registering between 18% and 19% between 2020 and 2023. Enrollment in HDHPs that were not eligible to be paired with an HSA fell from 12% to 9% between 2022 and 2023, down from 15% in 2020.
• Among respondents who enrolled through an employer, 17% were dissatisfied with the number of health plans they could choose from and 18% were dissatisfied with the availability of affordable health plans.
• Most enrollees spent an hour or less choosing a health plan – 66% for traditional plan enrollees, 68% for HDHP enrollees.
• HDHP enrollees are slightly more likely than traditional plan enrollees to have a choice of three health care plans, 31% to 28%.
• The majority of respondents – 72% – reported that their health plan has not changed in the last two years. 20% of traditional plan enrollees and 11% of HDHP plan enrollees said their plan is better than before. 8% of traditional plan enrollees and 16% of HDHP plan enrollees said their plan is worse than before.
• Sixty percent of respondents who’ve opened HSAs said they did it to take advantage of employer contributions. 58% said they wanted an account they can use to save and invest for future health care expenses and 52% wanted the tax savings associated with HSAs. Nearly half – 47% – said they would be more likely to accumulate and invest funds in an HSA account if they received an annual review of their HSA balance.

The 2023 Consumer Engagement in Health Care Survey short report of results is available online. The survey was sponsored by the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, HealthEquity, Inc., Millennium Trust Company, Segal, TIAA and Voya Financial.

About the Survey

The Consumer Engagement in Health Care Survey (CEHCS) is a survey of privately insured adults conducted by Greenwald Research and the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI). The survey has been conducted annually since 2005. The CEHCS provides reliable national data on the growth of consumer driven health plans and high deductible health plans and their impact on the behavior and attitudes of health care consumers.

The 2023 survey of 2,020 individuals was conducted using Dynata’s online research panel between October 16 and December 11, 2023. All respondents were between the ages of 21 and 64.

The national sample is weighted by gender, age, income, ethnicity, education, and region to reflect the actual proportions in the population. The consumer directed health plan (CDHP) and high deductible health plan (HDHP) samples are weighted by gender, age, income, and ethnicity.

About Greenwald Research

Greenwald Research is a leading independent custom research firm and consulting partner to the health and wealth industries that applies creative quantitative and qualitative methods to produce knowledge that helps companies stay competitive and navigate industry change. By leveraging deep subject matter expertise and a trusted consultative approach, Greenwald offers comprehensive services for weaving rich research stories that answer strategic business questions. For 33 years, Greenwald has partnered with the Employee Benefits Research Institute to conduct the annual Retirement Confidence Survey.

About the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI)

The Employee Benefit Research Institute is a non-profit, independent and unbiased resource organization that provides the most authoritative and objective information about critical issues relating to employee benefit programs in the United States.

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Contact:
Herb Perone
media@greenwaldresearch.com
301-512-7636

But Plan Sponsors Are Concerned About Complexity, Costs, and Choice

WASHINGTON, DC (January 25, 2024) – Concerns about the impact of inflation on their retirement savings is raising fears among employer-sponsored retirement plan participants that they will run out of money in retirement, according to a new survey by Greenwald Research.

The great majority of plan participants – 83% – say their employers should offer in-plan retirement income options, and most believe there should be more than one choice.

The latest consumer and plan sponsor surveys in Greenwald’s In-Plan Insights Program found that more than four in five retirement plan participants are interested in options that provide guaranteed lifetime income, or GLI.

“This year’s survey finds participants prefer a retirement income option that can grow over time, even if the starting amounts are lower,” says Greenwald Research CEO Lisa Greenwald. “Inflation concerns seem to be driving this preference for participants, while sponsors are more torn between lower initial payments that increase with time versus somewhat higher payments that remain steady.

“Most plan sponsors believe income options with GLI would be best for participants,” Greenwald says, “but they have strong concerns about the complexity of those income options and the fees that come with them.”

The survey found that 59% of plan sponsors view in-plan retirement income options as too complex. Nearly one in three are concerned that associated fees will mean higher costs for their companies, while 30% are concerned about the additional administrative work that offering income options would require. Sponsors also remain concerned about ensuring that participants have enough choices of retirement income options on the menu.

Nevertheless, one in three plan sponsors claim they already offer income options, while another 37% say they’re considering offering retirement income options. Asked to explain what income options are available or being considered, sponsors’ responses are often not what the industry would consider a DC plan retirement income option. “While this underscores the need for continued, foundational education on the retirement income category, the interest and perceived need for this type of solution seems quite real,” says study director Eric Sondergeld.

One possible motivator: half of sponsors say they prefer that participants keep their money in their workplace retirement plan at retirement. The survey found that retirement income options make participants twice as likely to keep their money in the plan after they retire – 57%, compared to 28% who want to move their assets out of the plan when they stop working.

“Retirement Income Options” and “Guaranteed Income Options” tied as the top names for the DC income category among both participants and sponsors – emphasizing clarity and simplicity. The category name “In-Plan Annuity Options” ranked last among sponsors. Though 8 in 10 sponsors agree that annuities are an effective “paycheck replacement” in retirement, they speculate that participants will be hesitant due to their reputation. Indeed, half of participants are reluctant to consider annuities in their workplace retirement income plans.

There is some light at the end of the tunnel, however. Three in four participants and nine in ten sponsors find it compelling to know that annuities are the only way to generate GLI and that they have evolved in positive ways.

Other key findings of the latest In-Plan Insights Program consumer and plan sponsor surveys include:

• 90% of plan participants are concerned about the impact of inflation on their retirement income.
• Participants’ concern about running out of money in retirement has grown significantly – 76% of responding participants reported that concern this year, up from 70% a year ago.
• Fully half of plan participants say employers should take at least a moderate level of responsibility for employees’ retirement preparedness, financial security and creating retirement income. Another 47% think employers have some responsibility for the financial security of employees who have retired. Plan sponsors seem to agree – three in four say their company is responsible for helping employees prepare for and generate income in retirement. 68% say they have responsibility for the long-term financial security of retired employees.
• Almost all sponsors believe a comprehensive retirement income planning program would increase participants’ comfort level with income options, increase the amount participants are willing to contribute, and increase participant utilization of in-plan retirement income options. Three in four sponsors believe retirement income planning programs with access to a human advisor would have greater value than a strictly online planning program.

About the Research

Greenwald’s In-Plan Insights Program is designed to explore the changing landscape of retirement income options in defined contribution plans. The 2023 study included online surveys conducted from September 26 to October 23, 2023 of 1,003 plan participants aged 30-70, with at least half aged 50 or over. Respondents were employed full-time at a company with at least 50 employees, had a personal income of $50,000 or more, and are currently contributing to their employers’ retirement savings plan. It also included surveys of 503 plan sponsors with at least 50 employees. More than 100 of the responding sponsors have 1,000 or more employees. Plan sponsors were surveyed between October 4 and November 18, 2023.

The 2023 In-Plan Insights Program survey reports are available for purchase. Contact Greenwald Research at info@greenwaldresearch.com to learn more.

About Greenwald Research

Greenwald Research is a leading independent custom research and consulting partner to the health and wealth industries that applies creative quantitative and qualitative methods to produce knowledge that helps companies stay competitive and navigate industry change. Visit greenwaldresearch.com to learn more.

Contact:
Herb Perone
media@greenwaldresearch.com

Remote Work Arrangements Have Major Impact on Retirement Timing and Transition

Washington, DC (December 12, 2023) – An improving economy is restoring consumers’ financial confidence, with nearly half of consumers saying they’re optimistic about their investments (46%). This marks a significant boost from 2022, in which only 31% were optimistic. Read more