MassMutual's Center for Behavioral Research(sm) Releases White Paper Regarding Automatic Features in Retire...( SPRINGFIELD Mass. March 13 /- Mas...),Health

SPRINGFIELD, Mass., March 13 /PRNewswire/ -- MassMutual's Center for Behavioral Research has released a new white paper to share insights and best practices regarding automatic features in retirement plans. Titled "Automation: 3 Steps to a High Performance Plan," the white paper suggests important criteria that retirement plan advisors and sponsors should consider when evaluating the adoption of automatic plan features such as automatic enrollment, automatic deferral increase and automatic asset allocation.

"One of the interesting findings published in the white paper is that a high automatic deferral rate is not always a deterrent to high plan participation," says Alison Salka, Ph.D., director of MassMutual's Center for Behavioral Research(SM). "Many plan sponsors are reluctant to elect a higher default savings rate for fear of 'turning off' employees. Our findings suggest otherwise. Among approximately 400 plans with automatic features evaluated for the research, those with a default rate higher than three percent actually have higher participation rates (84%) than those defaulting at three percent or lower (72%)."

"Considering that defined contribution plans are the primary retirement savings vehicle for millions of American workers, plan advisors and sponsors need the help of providers like MassMutual in ensuring that participants accumulate sufficient retirement savings," says Elaine Sarsynski, executive vice president of MassMutual's Retirement Services Division and chairman, president and CEO of MassMutual International LLC. "Automatic features can help drive higher participation and savings rates, and can help participants invest appropriately. They are becoming an extremely effective tool in this effort."

"Automation: 3 Steps to a High Performance Plan" is available on MassMutual's Center for Behavioral Research Web site at http://www.massmutual.com/behavior along wit
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