Inside America's retirement plan

Only 35% of Americans are on track to meet their retirement goals with their current savings strategy.

Retirement readiness across generations

How do retirement savings strategies differ across generations?


Average account balance

Source: Ascensus platform, as of December 31, 2015.

What about retirement goals?

Our retirement income calculator allows participants to refine retirement savings goals and illustrates for users how their current reality compares to their expectations for the future.

Here’s a snapshot of how our calculator users were doing in 2015.

35

%

Of employees on track to meet goals

13

%

The average deferral rate for those on track

65

%

Of employees not on track to meet goals

28

%

The average shortfall from goal for those off track

Over one fourth of those not on track were young millennials.
But a small change in their savings rate now could make a major impact on their future retirement nest egg.

Source: Ascensus plan participant website, as of December 31, 2016.

Awareness inspires action

Our data indicates that the calculator inspires action in those who might not already be saving.

55% of participants who weren’t deferring started contributing after using our calculator at an average rate of 8%.

Source: Ascensus plan participant website, as of December 31, 2016.

Account management: What's trending?

How much time do Americans spend managing their retirement savings strategy on average? And how do they prioritize that over catching up on episodes of their favorite shows?

16:9

Average time spent on our employee site managing retirement savings1

2.8 hours

Average time per day Americans spend watching TV2

28x

That's 28 times longer than they spend evaluating their retirement savings strategy.3

1 Source: Ascensus plan participant website, as of December 31, 2015
2 American Time Use Survey Summary, June 24, 2016, U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Smart plan design drives positive outcomes

Automatic features continue to gain momentum across the retirement industry. More plan sponsors are opting for auto features than ever before and are seeing increased plan participation as a result.

69

%

Avg. participation rate for plans without auto enroll

78

%

Avg. participation rate for plans with auto enroll

80

%

Avg. participation rate for plans with auto enroll and auto increase

Source: Ascensus platform, as of December 31, 2016.

More choosing simplicity and convenience

Digital enrollment simplifies the plan enrollment process for plan sponsors, advisors, and employees alike. So it’s no surprise that more employers are opting to offer this method than ever before.

92% of new Ascensus clients offer digital enrollment. Participation rates for plans that offer online enrollment are 4% higher.

Source: Ascensus platform, as of December 31, 2016.

Get more trends and insights

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Take a look inside America's savings plans