PLANSPONSOR - June/July 2020 - 22

RESEARCH | 2020 RECORDKEEPING SURVEY
401(k) Plans
A
lthough employers have a choice as to the type of retirement plan they offer, 401(k)
plans have clearly established themselves as the flagship retirement savings
vehicle. With roughly $6 trillion in assets and totaling more than 575,000 plans,
401(k)s dwarf other defined contribution (DC) plan types and long ago surpassed
their private defined benefit (DB) plan counterparts. As the market has grown, it has
become somewhat defined by its imbalanced extremes: 92% of all 401(k) plans each
have less than $10 million in assets, while the top 0.12%-i.e., the 732 largest plans,
each having over $1 billion in assets-control 51% of 401(k) assets.
The opportunities and challenges that arise from such fragmentation have
resulted in different servicing strategies. Small-plan sponsors may value the " hightouch "
experience offered by smaller providers, while large-plan sponsors likely
demand high-tech platforms capable of efficiently servicing the thousands of participants
enrolled in their plans.
While it seems unlikely that the 401(k) plan's dominance will be challenged
anytime soon, providers are continuing to innovate in response to a changing market.
A decade of legal challenges has heightened sponsor awareness of fiduciary practices,
leading providers to improvements in regulatory and compliance services, cybersecurity
initiatives and fee transparency. -BOK
Growth in Total 401(k) Plan Assets ($mm)
$5,863,466
$4,231,432
$4,586,095
$5,143,667
$4,930,732
Top 10, by Total 401(k) Assets ($mm)
1 Fidelity Investments
2 Empower Retirement
3 The Vanguard Group, Inc.
4 Alight Solutions
5 Principal Financial Group
6 Voya Financial
7 T. Rowe Price
8 Prudential Retirement
$2,037,733
$493,577
$454,223
$434,737
$322,976
$221,389
$195,224
$180,544
9 Bank of America Corporation $173,412
10 Charles Schwab
$162,876
Top 10, by 401(k)s With <$25mm in Assets
1 Paychex, Inc.
2 American Funds
3 ADP Retirement Services
4 John Hancock
5 Ascensus
6 Principal Financial Group
7 Empower Retirement
2016
2017
2018
Total 401(k) Assets, Plans and Participants

Total assets
$5,863,466
Plan Size
<$10mm
$10mm - $50mm
>$50mm - $200mm
>$200mm

Total plans
575,693
Assets ($mm)*
$716,750
$582,006
$590,563
$3,974,147

Total participants
73,550,467
Plans*
529,768
35,268
7,422
3,235
Participants*
15,654,871
9,983,955
9,197,977
38,713,664
2019
2020
89,864
56,845
52,310
45,959
41,591
31,536
27,999
8 Transamerica Retirement Solutions 23,535
9 Voya Financial
10 MassMutual
22,461
18,832
Top 10, by 401(k)s With >$100mm in Assets
1 Fidelity Investments
2 The Vanguard Group, Inc.
3 Principal Financial Group
4 Empower Retirement
5 Charles Schwab
6 T. Rowe Price
7 Prudential Retirement
8 Transamerica Retirement Solutions
9 Voya Financial
10 MassMutual
*Not all providers report complete data; therefore, data segmented by plan size will not equal the corresponding overall total.
1,866
584
453
397
326
282
275
170
161
137
22 PLANSPONSOR.COM June - July 2020
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