Supercharging a 401k Plan for the Benefit of all Retirement Plan Participants. The Plan Sponsor University (TPSU) held a Fiduciary Education Program in Atlanta, Georgia at the Terry College of Business. Among topics discussed during the half-day TPSU Program were the benefits of both Auto Enrollment and Auto Escalation of the plan participant deferrals. During the final Session of the TPSU Program, Session Five, the auto features were again highlighted as components of the TPSU Ideal Plan.
During the TPSU Program’s breakout discussions, Session 5, when program attendees were discussing ‘What’s Working’ in today’s retirement plans, one of the TPSU Program attendees indicated that their employer did help employees with auto-enrollment along with offering employees a generous match in their plan. TPSU Adjunct Lecturer, Brad Larsen stressed the importance of company plan sponsors taking an active role in assisting employees to participate in the self-funded retirement plan by nudging them via auto-enrollment. At the conclusion of the TPSU Program, TPSU Executive Director, Steff Chalk interviewed Francie Purnell, Corporate Director, Retirement Plan Benefits at a beverage distribution company that has a nationwide presence.
Their company has an unusual strategy concerning auto-enrollment, how they conduct annual re-enrollments and at what level they re-enroll plan-participants. All of this, combined with the generous employer match prepares the company workforce to be able “to retire” when employees reach normal retirement age.
