More than two-fifths (45 per cent) of U.S. defined contribution pension plan sponsors say they’re considering implementing emergency savings features, according to a survey from MFS Investment Management.
The survey, which polled 1,000 DC plan members and more than 140 plan sponsors, found nearly a quarter (23 per cent) of plan sponsors said they’d take advantage of new rules under the Secure 2.0 Act that allow plan members to take out $1,000 from their retirement accounts once every three years with no distribution tax charge. Indeed, 22 per cent said they’ll introduce the ability to withdraw $2,500 from a separate in-plan emergency savings account and 16 per cent are considering adding an option to match student loan payments.
Read: Younger 401(k) participants struggling with emergency savings, student debt: survey
Just a quarter (23 per cent) of plan sponsors said they’re confident in their members’ ability to retire at their desired age, citing concerns such as employee contributions (71 per cent), plan member engagement (57 per cent), the economy (56 per cent) and available tools and services (30 per cent).
Plan sponsors said they’re also worried about the changing regulatory and legislative landscape (55 per cent), litigation risk (44 per cent), overall plan administration burdens (43 per cent), figuring out retirement income solutions for the plan (41 per cent) and overall participation and savings rates (37 per cent).
Six in 10 (60 per cent) plan members said inflation has them rethinking their retirement. More than half (58 per cent) said they expect to work longer than they planned in order to retire, while 75 per cent said they need to save more and 61 per cent noted they’ve become more conservative with their investments.
Plan members from across all generations said competing financial priorities were getting in the way of saving adequately for retirement. Millennials were most likely to cite emergency savings (41 per cent) and saving for education (28 per cent), followed by generation X (31 per cent and 26 per cent, respectively) and baby boomers (25 per cent and three per cent). Notably, millennials were also more likely than gen-Xers to cite student loan payments (25 per cent and 10 per cent, respectively) and living paycheque to paycheque (26 per cent and 19 per cent).