The National Association of Government Defined Contribution Administrators on Monday released a detailed analysis of its members.
The report, called “Perspectives in Practice,” “provides data we didn't have before,” Polly Scott, NAGDCA board president, said in a news release. “NAGDCA is collecting data in a more robust way that benefits our entire membership, no matter how large or small the plan.”
Among the results, all of which reflect year-end 2015, NAGDCA said:
- The median participation rate among active employees was 54.7%, but it was 59.2% if only one DC plan was offered to employees and 52.6% if other DC plans were available to participants.
- The median plan fee — investment plus administration — was 0.43% of total plan assets.
- Twenty-six percent of plans offered automatic enrollment. Among plans offering auto enrollment, the most common default (67%) was a target-date fund.
- The median number of investment options — excluding brokerage accounts — was 22.
“Since plans differ as to their goals, type, size and other factors, any two plans can be successful yet have very different experiences with regard to certain performance measures,” the NAGDCA report said. “For example, assessing fees should not be done in a vacuum.”
The report was based on e-mail responses from executives of 62 plans representing $116 billion in plan assets and 2.4 million plan participants.
Among the respondents, 64.5% were from 457(b) plans and 27.5% were from 401(a) plans. The rest were from 401(k) plans and 403(b) plans. Thirty-five plans had assets of $500 million or more. Thirty plans had more than 15,000 participants.
The report is available on NAGDCA's website.
