Automatic Enrollment: the Power of Default

Automatic enrollment has become more and more popular since the Pension Protection Act of 2006 eliminated and clarified many of the regulatory issues surrounding automatic enrollment.

The attached article, by Vanguard, contains great statistics that can be reviewed with plan sponsors to determine whether automatic enrollment would be beneficial to enhance the success of their plan.

As we near the end of 2019, now would be great time for plan sponsors to review the feasibility, advantages, and disadvantages of adding automatic enrollment features.  If a plan is already utilizing automatic enrollment, now is a good time to revisit the provisions and determine if any enhancements need to be made.

Years of experience show that most participants want to save for retirement, but they do not want to go through the process of making the necessary decisions to enroll in their employer sponsored plan.