The Plans & Sponsors Desk 5 stories this week · 61 total

Retirement plan sponsors in the program represent $120 billion in assets and more than one million participants, per Vanguard's 2026 voting report.

Architecture is invisible to sponsors; the cost of configuring the next SECURE 2.0 feature is not, and the RFP should say so.

Sequenced documents, payroll wiring and a 30-day notice mean a sponsor who decides in September gets a plan that starts with the next plan year.

EIG's updated coverage data put the access gap in part-time and small-employer work, leaving a 2027 federal subsidy aimed at workers who largely lack an account to receive it.

An 8.7% quarter rewards the consultants who automate paperwork rather than reopen the lineup, and it makes the rollover look like the product.

EBRI's persistence data says the SECURE 2.0 match belongs on the plan-design agenda, not the budget line sponsors keep debating.

The recordkeeper is spending on capacity rather than product, which leaves sponsors to ask what the virtual agent is permitted to decide and what record it leaves behind.

The student-loan match sponsors can already offer is worth more than $10 billion a year, and EBRI's data shows it would reach borrowers carrying a 45% 401(k) gap into their 40s.

The participation gap opens at enrollment and never closes, which makes SECURE 2.0's student-loan match the lever most sponsors have not yet pulled.

Nearly a third of sponsors have switched providers recently; the survey suggests the retention case will be won on service teams and how well executives understand the benefit.

A $5 billion PEP book and two national sales seats describe the same contest: integrated providers selling pooled plans into the mid market, segment by segment.

A phone-and-digital advice bundle sold through ADP pushes fiduciary risk down to the individual account, which is where small-plan competition is heading.

Trading at 0.008% of balances shows the QDIA pipeline is doing the work, leaving plan risk in the funds absorbing 74% of contributions.

J.D. Power's 53-point gap between apps and plan websites gives sponsors a measurable reason to weigh participant digital experience against the fee quote.

Sponsors get a wellness feature without the build; recordkeepers get a reason to hold the participant after the last paycheck.

The July 403(b) launch gives the insurer a test of whether its ERISA 3(16) partnership model travels beyond the original partners.

Top satisfaction with recordkeeper websites and apps now predicts rollovers and post-job retention, turning digital scores into plan-design data.

A five-point jump in full-menu-discretion requests moves DC advice from recommendation to delegation.

PSCA's Sept. 10 campaign hands sponsors a free toolkit to turn automatic enrollees into active decision-makers.

Pew modeling finds part-time careers and caregiving breaks cut retirement benefits more than hours lost across DB, DC and hybrid designs — a caution for sponsors who test adequacy against the full-time norm.

Bruce E. Wolfe, whose background includes building Insight Investment's first U.S. retail retirement income platform, takes the SVP wealth solution leader post September 14.

The average balance hit $155,000 in the second quarter, with 81.2% of participants capturing the full employer match and combined savings rates just below the firm's 15% target.

The recordkeeper now runs an estimated $2.3 trillion across 96,000 plans, with a defined-benefit specialist tucked inside.

An estimated 6.1 million participants a year face a recordkeeper change or plan termination, and former employees are the ones most likely to lose the thread.

The API-first rollout with Human Interest and Basic Capital points to a future where the plan never leaves the payroll system workers already use.

PSCA's 2026 survey found 83% of eligible employees contributed, but only 22% invested—and the HSA's retirement promise remains largely unclaimed.

SecureSave finds a quarter of workers have already tapped retirement savings; CFP professionals report optimism that stops short of affordability.

Vanguard's lineup study shows 80% of under-35 savers ride a single target-date fund — and fewer than 30% of $250,000 accounts still do.

The 2027 auto-IRA program wants its vendor and partnership strategy settled before the first contribution is collected.

A Transamerica survey puts longer work horizons and women's savings strain on the plan-design table.

Two different risk decisions share one product name; Ron Surz argues the custom target-date fund is the simpler, DOL-friendly fix for defaulted participants.

New Morningstar research shows managed-account users contribute up to 2.3 points more, with the biggest gaps in voluntary-enrollment plans.

A new NIRS survey finds 80% see a retirement crisis, with debt and affordability at the center and AI advice still facing a trust gap.

The managed-account provider splits from its global parent, leaving Stadion under a CEO-controlled holding company.

A record 83% of eligible employees now contribute, but only 22% invest their HSA balances.

NFP's survey shows most employers haven't designed executive benefits around leadership transitions, handing advisers an opening that starts with key-person risk rather than a product.