The beginning of October marks the beginning of National Retirement Security Month, a focused effort conceived by the National Association of Government Defined Contribution Administrators (NAGDCA) to raise awareness of the need to adequately prepare for retirement.
Resolution for the creation of what started as National Retirement Security Week was first passed by the Senate in 2006 and continues with bipartisan support annually. NAGDCA extended the campaign to a month last year.
In preparation for the 2021 campaign, NAGDCA conducted a brief survey of a sample of leading recordkeepers to learn the focus of their NRSM campaigns for the public sector plan sponsors they serve.
- 100% of respondents provide NRSM campaigns for the public sector plan sponsors they serve; 60% provide customized campaigns.
- 100% of respondents use their NRSM campaign to explicitly address the need to save beyond defined benefit, mandatory defined contribution, and, where applicable, Social Security to enable a financially secure retirement.
- 80% of respondents have included an enhanced focus on financial wellness topics in their campaigns to address increased challenges induced by the pandemic and to support current financial wellbeing.
- Of the respondents providing an enhanced focus on financial wellness topics, 60% are covering budgeting, emergency fund, debt reduction, setting/achieving retirement savings goals, and decumulation strategies; 20% are covering all of these topics with the exception of decumulation strategies.
- 40% of respondents are addressing pandemic-related legislative changes regarding plan withdrawals and loans in their 2021 NRSM campaigns; 20% are also addressing required minimum distributions.
Recordkeepers serving more than 22,500 sponsors of state, county, city, and local government plans were queried about the focus of their 2021 NRSM campaigns, specifically in light of the challenges precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Following are the results:
Additionally, recordkeepers noted the importance of using their 2021 NRSM campaigns to “get back on track” with retirement planning and financial wellness following the difficult first year of the pandemic; and that the pandemic and related legislation has reinforced the need to address financial wellness and retirement readiness holistically.
“We’re thrilled with these results as they validate and robustly support NAGDCA’s original intention for National Retirement Security Month, which was to develop a focused effort to raise awareness for the importance of saving adequately for retirement,” said NAGDCA Executive Director Matt Petersen. “We’re especially heartened to see that these recordkeepers—which serve thousands of public sector plans and millions of public sector workers—are focused on hammering home for participants the importance of defined contribution plans in the complex, and rapidly changing landscape of public sector retirement. While contributing to these plans remains optional for many, they are an immensely important vehicle for achieving financial security in retirement—especially for younger workers with less robust traditional pension plans and those public sector workers without access to Social Security benefits.”
Each public sector sponsor faces their own challenges in educating and enrolling their participants, and NRSM provides the platform around which innovative members can employ their most creative ideas. Whether a plan sponsor is looking to increase participation, attract certain demographic groups to the plan, or educate against common investing pitfalls, NRSM is a dedicated time to focus on improving employee retirement outcomes.
A couple of popular themes for NRSM activities surround prompting participants to review their contribution levels or to utilize a retirement calculator to help determine what they need to be saving now to reach financial security in retirement.
Lexington, Ky.-based NAGDCA encourages everyone to use the #NRSM21 hashtag in social media posts.
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