During Benefits Canada’s annual DC Plan Summit, plan sponsors participated in interactive sessions. They split into small groups and were given questions to discuss. Based on these discussions, moderators later offered their insights and relayed key take-aways.
Nigel Branker, partner with Morneau Shepell shares the best ideas from the topic they discussed.
The Challenge:
Smart features—such as automatic adjustments of member contribution amounts and investment allocation as members progress toward their retirement income goals—can help plans to achieve their objectives. While many plan sponsors agree that members should make tactical adjustments from time to time, very few actually do so. What role can sponsors play beyond education?
Survival Tips for Employers:
- Features such as periodically revisiting contribution formulas should be considered as part of DC plans going forward.
- Plans should cater to individual members or groups with similar experience and goals.
- Shift the focus to income-based outcomes, instead of just the accumulation of assets.
- Evolution takes time. Smart features should continue to be explored, but the industry will need one or two early adopters to lead the way.
Additional videos from the DC Plan Summit can be found here.