Cerulli: One-third of retirement plan participants had recordkeeper advice contact in past year

One-third of retirement plan participants had a planning or advice interaction with their recordkeeper in the past year, according to a Cerulli Edge—U.S. Retirement Edition report released Oct. 15 and reported by 401(k) Specialist.

Participants with a planning or advice interaction rated their recordkeeper higher: 46% gave it a 9 or 10 for overall satisfaction, compared with 28% of those with no interaction.

Retirement confidence splits the same way at a narrower margin — 35% of engaged participants said they are highly confident they can maintain their standard of living in retirement, compared with 23% of the rest. Cerulli describes an association among advice interactions, satisfaction and confidence, not evidence that the interaction produced either result.

"While it is not realistic to expect all participants to use a recordkeeper's online resources in a given year, limited adoption does not mean these resources are not valuable," said Elizabeth Chiffer, a senior analyst at Cerulli. Of participants who used an online planning tool or calculator from their recordkeeper, about one-third found it very helpful and almost half found it somewhat helpful, Chiffer said.

"This is good news for recordkeepers that may want to create rollover and crossover relationships, as well as those that would prefer that participants keep their assets in plan," Chiffer said.

Cerulli and Morningstar research reported Oct. 6 put 10.2% of advisors' wealth clients as coming from DC plans. Ascensus cited Cerulli research that 63% of active 401(k) participants operate without access to a financial advisor.

The October edition recommends raising awareness of resources recordkeepers already have in place — what they offer, how participants reach them and which financial concern each one addresses. The report says that may help recordkeepers strengthen relationships and support longer-term retention.