More than half of U.S. pension plan sponsors say economic conditions like interest rate and market volatility (58 per cent) as well as demographic changes (57 per cent) are the market forces most likely to influence the evolution of employer-sponsored retirement plans, according to a new survey by MetLife Inc.
The survey, which polled more than 250 employers, found eight in ten (82 per cent) retirement plan sponsors said they can’t envision a time when their company would no longer offer any retirement benefits.
Read: DC investment options impacted by plan sponsor approach, external factors: report
Indeed, the top three reasons companies said they plan to continue to offer retirement benefits in the future are to serve as a competitive advantage in attracting and retaining talent (69 per cent), to demonstrate their commitment to the long-term welfare of their employees (57 per cent) and to enable their workers to financially be able to retire (52 per cent).
Nine in 10 (90 per cent) plan sponsors reported they have workers delaying retirement because they feel financially trapped. Plan sponsors noted these employees may be delaying retirement because they can’t afford to retire yet (64 per cent), they need to maintain medical insurance coverage (62 per cent) or they need to continue building their retirement savings (49 per cent).
The vast majority (93 per cent) said they recognize retirees need a source of guaranteed income they can’t outlive and 92 per cent said the decline of traditional defined benefit pension plans has resulted in greater reliance on defined contribution plans to provide retirement income.
aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYmVuZWZpdHNjYW5hZGEuY29tL3BlbnNpb25zL3JldGlyZW1lbnQvZWNvbm9taWMtdm9sYXRpbGl0eS1kZW1vZ3JhcGhpYy1jaGFuZ2VzLWFtb25nLWZhY3RvcnMtc2hhcGluZy1yZXRpcmVtZW50LXBsYW5zLXN1cnZleS8(U2NyZWVuSGVpZ2h0)NzIw(U2NyZWVuV2lkdGg)MTI4MA(T0ZTWVNfUmVmZXJyZXI)(dmlzaXRvcktleQ)ZmViT1dMUUQ(dmlzaXRLZXk)NU9FQmZFU2w){kind=small}