More higher education retirement plans are using investment consultants while streamlining their investment options lineups, said a news release regarding a survey from Cammack Retirement Group.
Ninety percent of the more than 100 private higher education institutions surveyed said their retirement plans utilize an investment consultant, up from 77% in 2012. Also, nearly half of those consultants serve as plan fiduciaries, up from 25% in 2010.
Also according to the survey, 65% of plans offer fewer than 50 investment options, while more than 90% of plans offer target-date fund lineups.
“Overall, we're very pleased to see plan sponsors continue to adopt industry best practices, specifically in the areas of investor and vendor consolidation as well as fiduciary behavior,” said Jeff Levy, Cammack Retirement managing partner and co-author of the survey, in the news release. “We believe that the record-high use of advisers and the increasing awareness and adoption of best practices go hand-in-hand.”
Despite the continuing streamlining of plans' investment options offerings, only 36% of plans utilize automatic escalation and 22% either have, or plan to have, automatic enrollment.
Spokeswoman Nicole Hakimi could not provide further information.
