SSgA: DC participants want employer help in saving for retirement

Defined contribution plan participants want employers to play an active role in helping make saving for retirement easier, according to the third biannual DC Investor Survey from State Street Global Advisors in collaboration with Boston Research Group.

Of the 1,396 DC plan participants surveyed in October, 74% say they want clear examples on how their savings will pay off in the future.

Seventy-one percent also want employers to increase their savings rate by one percentage point every year.

“The main takeaway, and there are a few of them, the first one is just how employees feel that they have high aspirations on what they're looking for in retirement,” said Fredrik Axsater, managing director and head of global defined contribution for SSgA, in a telephone interview. “They want to thrive in retirement. They don't want to just survive.”

Mr. Axsater also said one of the more enlightening results of the survey was what they learned about participants under age 25.

“We see it's a younger age corps that stands out in terms of having different priorities, different mindsets, and it's important and also that from a plan sponsor's standpoint seems (they know) how to communicate, how to engage them. We call this younger cohort 'Generation DC.' We see that they are on average more confident in their investing. Eighty-two percent say that they're confident they'll have enough money to retire on,” Mr. Axsater said.

Also, 62% of employees 25 and younger said they want education on how to spend less, compared to 53% of all employees. This shows more of a desire to learn about retirement readiness despite being more likely to be auto-enrolled.

— Contact Rob Kozlowski at rkozlowski@pionline.com | @Kozlowski_PI