Delta pilots flew away with the best 401k in 2016, taking the No. 1 spot in BrightScope’s list of the country’s top 30 plans.
Delta is also the perennial top gun in on-time arrival performance. Coincidence?
The sky jockeys came is at a 92.6 rating and a total plan cost under 25 basis points, with BrightScope adding that “company generosity and salary deferrals accelerated the plan to the top position.”
The list, produced by the San Diego-based retirement research firm, recognizes companies with the best large 401k plans that contain more than $1 billion in assets.
Target date funds represent over 10 percent of assets in list, and index funds now account for almost 41 percent, up over 6 percent from last year. The average list participation rate was over 96 percent, average salary deferral over $14,500 per participant and average company generosity tops $13,000 per participant.
“This is our eighth year compiling the year-end Top 30 ratings list, and yet again we see companies offering higher quality plans,” Brooks Herman, head of data and research at BrightScope, said in a statement. “We have witnessed average plan ratings improve each year in the Top 30 List—and this year is no different. This demonstrates that America’s employees and employers recognize how critical a high quality 401k plan is to maintaining an acceptable standard of living in retirement.”
Noteworthy findings since BrightScope’s release include:
- Bayer Corporation moved up 12 places with more than $3,700 in company generosity per participant and more than $3,000 in salary deferrals per participant.
- The NFL Player Annuity Program joined the Top 30 List, as it becomes a member of the NFL Player Second Career Savings Plan. Both plans are affiliated with the National Football League Players Association and the National Football League Management Council.
- Federal National Mortgage Association Retirement Savings Plan for Employees jumps from No. 29 to No. 21 in this year’s List as costs drift down while salary deferrals and company generosity increase from last year.
BrightScope claims it’s rated nearly 50,000 401k and 403b plans, spanning more than 57 million workers and over $3 trillion in assets.
It obtains an increasing amount of its data directly from plan sponsors and record keepers, and augments these primary sources with data from publicly available sources such as the Department of Labor and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
With more than 20 years serving financial markets, John Sullivan is the former editor-in-chief of Investment Advisor magazine and retirement editor of ThinkAdvisor.com. Sullivan is also the former editor of Boomer Market Advisor and Bank Advisor magazines, and has a background in the insurance and investment industries in addition to his journalism roots.
