5 issues facing the retirement market in 2012

In 2011, companies began to restore matching employees’ 401(k) contributions. The chief executive of ASPPA, Brian Graff, says that his organization is “enthusiastic that companies are reconsidering their match levels because it’s clear that most Americans are not saving sufficiently for retirement and the match is a critical way to get them to save more.”
And in 2012, Bill Harmon, senior vice president of 401(k) sales at Great-West Retirement Services, believes that even more companies will restore matches, as it’s a recruiting tool. “I believe it’s going to be these headlines that say ‘large corporation started their match back up’ that will start that sense of competition again,” he says. “Now granted, we also need unemployment to go down again to say that we need this sense of competition. But when those two storms come together and I really don’t believe we’re far away from it … then you’re going to see this.”

One new product to look out for in 2012 is multi-employer plans, Graff says, adding that there is a lot of discussion about multiple employer plans and a lot of providers who are developing products related to them. Yet, he warns there are “some legal uncertainties surrounding MEPs and the big question is going to be if the Department of Labor is going to address them in some form, and that could have some impact on those products.” The industry will be watching for those regulations closely, he says.