Lincoln Adds to In-Plan Retirement Income Offerings

Lincoln Financial Group announced Tuesday an addition to its in-plan guaranteed income investment offerings for defined contribution retirement plans.

The asset manager’s newest iteration of its Lincoln PathBuilder, powered by YourPath, can be offered to participants via a managed account or as a stand-alone investment option in a retirement plan; it provides exposure to a group annuity contract with an asset allocation investment fund.

With the new design, participants can “choose to begin lifetime income at any point in time” and “can completely change their mind” even after making payments by withdrawing or transferring their account balances, Lincoln wrote via email.

Lincoln makes the move as providers continue to add offerings seeking to tap a need for additional retirement income security in the 401(k) age. The prior offering of the same name, launched in 2021, used a similar guaranteed lifetime benefit with target-date and risk funds, according to the firm. YourPath is a Lincoln-branded investment offering developed in partnership with American Century, Capital Group, BlackRock and State Street.

The latest offering brings Lincoln’s guaranteed lifetime withdrawal benefit options to five, not including third-party options it makes available to plan sponsors from Income America 5ForLife, a collaboration between Lincoln and other providers, and Alliance Bernstein’s Lifetime Income Strategies. But the firm says it does not intend to stand pat, with plans to add more options via target-date funds or managed accounts, including as qualified default investment alternatives, as opposed to opt-in investments. The newest version of Lincoln PathBuilder can be either a default or opt-in.

“We believe that plan sponsors and their trusted advisers are seeking choice in the options and ways to implement guaranteed lifetime income,” a Lincoln spokesperson wrote via email. “The market is heading toward having multiple guaranteed lifetime income options within the same plan to best meet the needs of participants.”

Lincoln’s latest offering is available on its recordkeeping platform, but a firm spokesperson said via email it is working to offer through other recordkeepers.

The investment is also “built to accommodate portability, both at the participant level” via an individual retirement account, “as well as [at the] sponsor level (to other recordkeepers) via middleware,” according to the spokesperson.