Update from the Employee Benefit Research Institute

Pensions & Investments Podcast Series

In this podcast, Mr. Salisbury discusses some of the challenges facing defined contribution plan sponsors based on research his organization has completed in such areas as: how plan participants take their distributions (hint: very few take an annuity option); their expectations for life expectancy and retirement (hint: somewhat misguided) and their tendency to choose benefits for now (e.g., a house, a child's college education or health care) over benefits later (e.g., retirement). His bottom line? Despite much progress over the years, there remains much that DC plan sponsors need to learn to more effectively communicate with their plan participants. The podcast is a recording from Mr. Salisbury's speech at P&I's East Coast Defined contribution conference, held Feb. 8 through 10. On the day this recording was made, Mr. Salisbury received the EBRI Lillywhite Award, named for pension investment pioneer Ray Lillywhite. The award honors outstanding lifetime contributions to America's economic security. Mr. Salisbury joined EBRI at its founding in 1978. He also has served on several pension-related panels including on the Labor Department's ERISA Advisory Council and the PBGC Advisory Committee.