Products March 25, 2014

ASPPA to Launch Enhanced Website

The American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries (ASPPA) will be launching an enhanced version of its website on April 7.
Reported by

Inspired by the resounding success of NAPA Net, a content-focused web portal for all 401(k) advisers, ASPPA is launching a portal of its own, designed to provide members and non-members with a robust, vibrant and user-friendly experience. The National Association of Plan Advisers (NAPA) is a sister organization of ASPPA.

In addition to the new ASPPA portal, which will replace the current ASPPA.org website, the National Tax-deferred Savings Association (NTSA) will be getting a portal of its own, and NAPA Net will be getting a makeover to match the general look of the other two sites. Brian Graff, executive director and CEO of the Arlington, Virginia-based ASPPA, says members will come to view these portals and the content they will contain as an integral component of their affiliation with the organization.

For more stories like this, sign up for the PLANADVISERdash daily newsletter.

“It is important to provide our members with the most critical information to enhance their ability to serve retirement plans and participants,” Graff says. “We believe these three portals will be cutting-edge communication tools that will allow us to have constant contact with our members on important issues.”

Following the example of NAPA Net, the ASPPA and NTSA portals will feature news updates, commentary and analysis that are unique to the portals and created for the membership, by the membership. All three portals will offer free newsletters that will send the latest offerings directly to subscribers’ inboxes.

Kristine Coffey, a member of ASPPA’s board of directors, says she is looking forward to the content featured on the new portals. “The content will keep me ahead of the curve and more competent,” Coffey says. “It will usher in a whole new era because it’s a focus on timely member issues, featuring the best technology that can be had.”

Adam Pozek, another ASPPA board member, says that the average member will be able to find the content they have always relied upon, including webcast and conference information, the Member Directory, credentialing tools and more, and will be able to do so much more easily. He says the redesigned site will, “Allow us as an organization to prioritize the information we deliver to our members, and give them the content they need in a logical, easy-to-follow format.”

The portals will launch on April 7. There will be a 10-day transition period, starting March 28, as the old site begins going offline and ASPPA transitions to new database software. While this will require shutting down all e-commerce software during this period, members will still be able to access any purchases made prior to March 28, or make new purchases via phone or fax.

The American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries (ASPPA) is a national organization of retirement plan and benefits professionals that serves as the educator, voice and advocate for the employer-based retirement system.

Data & Research March 25, 2014

Small Businesses and 401(k) Plan Fees

A new survey questions whether small businesses are paying too much when it comes to 401(k) plan fees.
Reported by

Despite the industry’s efforts to make 401(k) plans more transparent, accessible and low cost, a national survey by ShareBuilder 401k found that on average, small-business owners who read fee disclosure statements still consider 3% a reasonable price to pay. Three percent is three times ShareBuilder 401k’s 1% benchmark.

The survey findings also show that 62% of small-business owners think fee disclosures are clearer now than they were in 2012, which was the first year that the Department of Labor mandated retirement plan providers disclose all administrative and investment fees. A majority (70%) of small business owners who review their fee disclosures feel prompted to comparison shop. Twenty-nine percent say they plan to look for a new retirement plan provider.

Want the latest retirement plan adviser news and insights? Sign up for PLANADVISER newsletters.

“While it’s encouraging to see that plan sponsors find the new disclosures easier to understand, and feel compelled to take action, there remains a lack of awareness regarding what is a reasonable price to pay,” says Stuart Robertson, president of ShareBuilder 401k, based in Seattle. “Three percent is at least three times what plan participants should pay for an employer-sponsored retirement plan. It is essential to educate owners and employees on the low-fee options available to all investors.”

Survey findings also indicate that 86% of small business owners are willing to spend more on their plan in return for increased support for the plan and for their employees. This includes access to investment advisers (37%) and employee guidance tools and materials (35%).

“We continue to advocate that no plan charge employees more than 1% in fees and investment expenses. The more knowledgeable owners and employees are about fees and their impact on savings, the closer they’ll be to attaining financial freedom in retirement,” says Robertson. “Over the course of a 30- or 40-year career, the difference between 1% or 2% in fees can translate into to hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost retirement savings.”

Other survey findings include:

  • Small business owners want lower fees. Thirty-five percent of small business owners say they negotiated or plan to negotiate better pricing with their current plan provider, while 34% gathered, or plan to gather, benchmarking data to compare their current plan with alternate plans. Sixty-five percent of small business owners compared the fees in their plan to other comparable plans on the market.
  • Employees are taking a stand. Eighty-two percent of businesses reported that at least some employees took action as a result of their 401(k) fee disclosure notice. The survey also revealed 41% of business owners received requests from their employees for a better understanding of their plan expenses.
  • Employers are taking action on their own. Fewer small business owners (23%) are likely to hire a consultant compared to last year (37%). Rather, companies are negotiating or planning to negotiate better pricing with their current 401(k) provider (35%) and gathering or planning to gather benchmarking data to compare with alternate plans (34%).

For employers who know what their company fee disclosure is, they can use an online plan comparison tool to benchmark their plan.

The ShareBuilder 401k Disclosure Survey was conducted by Wakefield Research among 500 small business owners and decisionmakers offering 401(k) plans at companies with 100 employees or less. The survey was carried out online between November 19 and December 2, 2013.

If you would like to receive the research summary report, please contact Alison Cahill of Capital One at Alison.Cahill@capitalone.com.

ShareBuilder 401k, a subsidiary of Capital One Financial Corporation, is a provider of 401(k) retirement plans for small and mid-size businesses serving clients that include the self-employed to those with more than 10,000 employees. More information about ShareBuilder 401k can be found here.

«

OneBookOneCommunity