2012 Hot Topics in Retirement - Aon

Barriers to Adding Retirement Income Solutions/Annuities
Barriers
Not interested in o�ering insurance products
at this time
Fiduciary concerns
Waiting to see the market evolve more
Participant utilization or communication
concerns
Operational or administrative concerns
Portability concerns
Cost barriers
Preference for participants to leave the plan
at termination
Other
(n=308; multiple responses)
Percentage of Plans
Investment Fund O�erings Plan sponsor scrutiny of defined contribution fund operations and investments
is a continued priority in 2012. It is likely that regulatory disclosure
requirements and broad industry focus are contributing to this interest.
One-third of respondents state that they have completed an in-depth review
of operations recently. Out of the remaining two-thirds who have not, nearly
nine out of ten (89%) state that they are very or somewhat likely to do so
in 2012.
57%
43%
40%
39%
33%
18%
18%
Employers are also likely to perform a comprehensive review of the fund
o�erings. Forty percent of employers have completed this exercise recently,
and 85% of the remaining respondents indicated that they will do so
this year.Cost-cutting is also increasingly top of mind with employers.
Recently, one-third of all employers have changed or altered their fund
options to reduce the cost, while nearly half of the remaining plan sponsors
intend to do so in the next 12 months.
Finally, o�ering participants even more choice is planned for the coming year.
More employers have added funds for inflation protection, and many have
added (or plan to add) a tier of index funds to the design (typically meaning
the addition of at least a bond, large-cap equity, small-/mid-cap equity, and
international equity index options).
9%
3%
Aon Hewitt 27