Participants in defined contribution plans want a lot more than simply the ability to save for retirement through a variety of investment options, according to the latest Wells Fargo/Gallup Investor and Retirement Optimism Index.
Although the survey found that 92% of respondents are satisfied with their plan, 70% of non-retiree participants are interested in getting advice on how to optimize their Social Security benefits in retirement and roughly six in 10 would like advice on developing a retirement income plan as well as the ability to customize target date funds to the exact year they plan to retire.
In addition, about 40% of non-retirees want advice for all their assets, not just their 401(k) plan assets, and for asset allocation as well as automatic rebalancing of assets.
"As the 401(k) plan is the most common way for people to save and invest for retirement, it makes sense that people would like to access more extensive retirement-planning features, such as advice that factors all of their assets into their retirement income estimates and asset allocation strategy," said Joe Ready, head of Wells Fargo Institutional Retirement and Trust, in a statement. "That's the next step in the retirement industry — to help participants get the answers they need to their complex retirement income and distribution questions."
Plan participants could use the help. Nearly one-quarter of current retirees, whose average age at retirement was 62, reported that they had retired earlier than they would have liked and many were surprised by the high costs they've encountered in retirement.
