What happens after the saving stops?
For decades, retirement plans have focused on helping participants accumulate assets. Today, the industry is confronting a new challenge: helping participants turn those assets into income that can last through retirement. At the same time, the pressure to solve that challenge is coming from multiple directions.
In this issue of next, we explore how these trends are reshaping plan design, participant engagement and retirement outcomes. We examine the growing influence of state retirement mandates, what new participant research reveals about retirement readiness, how sponsors can make income concepts easier to understand, and the role recordkeepers are playing in bringing innovative solutions to market. Together, these developments point to a common conclusion: the future of defined contribution is increasingly focused on helping participants generate income, not just accumulate savings.
