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2022 Annual Conference

May 19–21, 2022

Sheraton Sand Key, Clearwater Beach, FL, US

Proposal authors can use this tool to see where they have been placed in the program agenda for an Oral or Poster Session.

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Confirm your place in the schedule by going to the ACCI Presenter Confirm Google Sheet and marking your session with the name and email address of the author who will be attending and presenting. Each presentation must have a separate paid registraint. Contact the ACCI Office immedicately by email at admin@consumerinterests.org to report a conflict or if you have questions. Please be sure to reference the session title(s), date(s), and time(s) if you contact us.

B1b Nudging DC Participants to Save More: The Impact of Employer Defaults and Match Rates on Retirement Saving

Thursday, May 19, 2022 at 5:15 PM–6:45 PM EDT
Room 1
Key Words

Retirement Saving, Auto-Enrollment, Behavior Nudging, 401(k) Matching Rules, Saving Disparity

Short Description

This study investigates the impacts and interactions of two primary defined contribution plan design features, default savings rate and match rate, using an administrative data set of approximately 157,000 participants who recently enrolled in an employer-matched 401(k) plan. The research results indicate that selecting a higher default rate has the largest impact on employee savings rates. Plans with low default rates that match a high percentage of employee earnings induce higher-income participants to actively move away from the low default savings rate, resulting in a wider savings gap between higher- and lower-income employees. When employees are defaulted at a higher rate, fewer move away from the default savings rate resulting in higher and more equal savings rates among employees.

Submitter

Zhikun Liu, Employee Benefit Research Institute

Authors

Zhikun Liu, Employee Benefit Research Institute
David Blanchett, PGIM
Michael Finke, The American College of Financial Services
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