Nearly 40% of Participants Rely on Plan Provider to Manage Outside Assets

Thirty-eight percent of retirement plan participants rely on their employer plan provider to manage their outside assets, and another 35% would consider doing so, representing a sizeable untapped market for providers, according to Spectrem Group.

However, the 63% of participants who use different providers for their retirement plan and other assets believe their financial advisers are more concerned with selling products than properly advising them, and this will be a roadblock for those advisers and providers looking to work with participants holistically on their entire portfolio of assets, Spectrem says.

“Plan providers should emphasize the level of satisfaction among participants who entrust outside assets to their provider,” Spectrem says. “Fully 93% of these participants report being satisfied versus just 31% of participants who use a third party to manage assets.”

Spectrem conducted the online survey of 831 401(k), 403(b) and 457 plan participants with a household net worth of at least $100,000.