Opportunities Exist to Capture Assets Outside the Plan

An untapped opportunity exists for retirement plan providers to capture a greater portion of participant’s household assets outside the plan. Some employers are considering expanding the financial planning services available to employees to include ways to help them manage more of their financial affairs.

Since retirement plan sponsors see their employee benefit offering as an integral part of the compensation package they use to attract and retain employees, bundled services, including outside of plan asset management, debt management, 401(k) rollover and planning for the care of dependents would act as hiring and retention incentives as well.

Usage levels of voluntary financial planning services by those who have them available ranges from 15% to 35%, depending on the specific planning topic. In addition, those who do not have financial planning services available express a considerable interest in being able to access such services. Participants also express considerable interest (43%) in having financial products available for purchase at the workplace with payment via payroll deduction.

Working with plan sponsors to help them see expanded financial planning services as a hiring and retention tool is a viable option to gaining a larger share of current participant’s out of plan assets and assisting them with a total financial plan for a successful and secure retirement.