The “Public Retirement Research Lab” (PRRL) was launched earlier this year to address the problem that a national benchmark for public sector defined contribution plans has not existed, previously forcing the sector to rely on data from private 401k plans.
The PRRL furthered its ramp-up efforts recently with a webinar event touting its benefits for all involved in the design, management, innovation, and legislation of public sector defined contribution plans.
Formed by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) and the National Association of Government Defined Contribution Administrators (NAGDCA), the PRRL produces research and analysis based on actual participant behavior exclusively within public DC plans.
The webinar featured moderator Ben Taylor noting that data from and policy for 401k plans has been informing government plans despite significant differences between the two, such as the availability of defined benefit plans, lack of summary data (no ERISA Form 5500), PPA exclusions, and missing features due to collective bargaining.
“All of these differences make it difficult at times to draw valuable lessons from the ERISA marketplace when we’re looking at administering government plans,” Taylor said during the webinar. “We can commonly see completely uncoordinated evaluations of deferred comp plans, defined benefit plans, and even ignoring the presence of outside assets, despite high probability of their existence and significance. The PRRL was founded to break down these walls and to allow government plans for the very first time get a comprehensive picture of the retirement assets of their participants.”
Craig Copeland, EBRI Senior Research Associate and PRRL co-creator, shared key findings from the premier PRRL study—”Trends in Public-Sector Employee Tenure”—and the implications for public sector defined contribution administrators.
EBRI President and CEO Lori Lucas (also a PRRL co-creator) shared details of how participant level data is securely collected, stored, and analyzed, and used in conjunction with EBRI’s existing databases, as well as the importance of actual versus self-reported data.
Representatives from PRRL Founding Partners Capital Group, Invesco, and Nationwide shared observations on the benefits to be gained in plan design, investment options, communication, and participant engagement from having a comprehensive database of public sector participant-level data. These sentiments were reinforced by North Carolina’s Mary Buonfiglio, who provided the public sector plan sponsor perspective.
NAGDCA Executive Director (and PRRL co-Creator) Matt Petersen discussed the importance of benchmarking data for NAGDCA members, and how plan sponsors are able to use data.
Wendy Carter, VP, Defined Contribution Director—Segal (Steering Committee co-chair) opined on the importance of information sharing. “The more data we have the better we’re able to identify industry trends, both positive and negative, for all types and sizes of public retirement plans,” Carter said. “The benefit of having survey data from a larger and wider range of employers is that it will give us many more data points to measure and to compare. It will be particularly useful for sponsors when they’re evaluating changes to their plans.”
The Lab’s goal is to provide unbiased and actionable findings to plan sponsors, administrators, policymakers and others to inform better decision making around public retirement plans. The Lab will mine data from a new secure Public Retirement Research Database housed and analyzed by EBRI.
Click here to learn more about the PRRL.
Veteran financial services industry journalist Brian Anderson joined 401(k) Specialist as Managing Editor in January 2019. He has led editorial content for a variety of well-known properties including Insurance Forums, Life Insurance Selling, National Underwriter Life & Health, and Senior Market Advisor. He has always maintained a focus on providing readers with timely, useful information intended to help them build their business.
