J.P. Morgan Hosts Defined Contribution Advisor Summit, Highlights Current Industry Sentiments

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Jun 03, 2015, 11:06 ET

NEW YORK, June 3, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- J.P. Morgan Asset Management recently hosted its third annual Defined Contribution Advisor Summit in New York, bringing together select retirement advisors from across the country to discuss influential trends transforming the future of retirement. The forum enabled advisors to share their collective insights on how best to serve defined contribution (DC) plan sponsors and participants.

Summit sessions -- including "Improving Participant Outcomes through Innovative Plan Change"; "Fiduciary Misperceptions: Reality, Responsibility and Mitigating Risk"; and "Navigating the Ever-Changing Health Care Landscape: Implications for Employer Sponsored Retirement Benefits" -- were presented to provide new insights into industry trends and developments, as well as more information on resources and tools available to retirement advisors today.

Current industry sentiments were also captured through a series of polling questions to the select group of approximately 100 DC advisors over the two-day event. Responses revealed:

93% of attending advisors believed the "death of active management" is greatly exaggerated and that there is room for both active and passive investments in DC plans.

77% of attending advisors noted the biggest concern for plan sponsors was participants not having saved enough.

52% of attending advisors felt the biggest challenge in trying to get clients to implement plan changes, such as re-enrollment, was gaining consensus among committee members, while 39% felt the challenge was more aligned with participant backlash.

Sentiment was split on health care with 51% of attending advisors noting clients are either just starting to inquire about integrating retirement and health offerings or taking a holistic approach to the benefits package, with the other 49% noting it was not yet part of the conversation with plan sponsors.

89% of attending advisors also felt plan sponsors were looking for partners that could advise on all areas of the plan and look at the plan holistically.

"We believe sharing knowledge helps support our goal of helping all Americans achieve a financially sound future, and we were excited to hear directly from the DC advisor community on current issues impacting their business," said Anne Lester, Global Head of Retirement Solutions and 2014 Morningstar U.S. Fund Manager of the Year¹ for the JPMorgan SmartRetirement suite of target date funds. "Exchanging perspectives on issues from plan design and investments to effective processes for decision making and best practices for risk management allowed us to focus on how we -- as retirement solutions providers and advisors -- can offer solutions to best meet these needs and serve the DC market."

To learn more about J.P. Morgan Asset Management's leading DC investment strategies, product innovations and resources for advisors and plan sponsors, please click here.

¹The 2014 U.S. Allocation Fund Manager of the Year was awarded to the SmartRetirement team for the management of the JPMorgan SmartRetirement Target date Series (Institutional Shares)

About J.P. Morgan Asset Management

J.P. Morgan Asset Management, with assets under management of $1.6 trillion, is a global leader in investment management. J.P. Morgan Asset Management's clients include institutions, retail investors and high net worth individuals in every major market throughout the world. J.P. Morgan Asset Management offers global investment management in equities, fixed income, real estate, hedge funds, private equity and liquidity. JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM), the parent company of J.P. Morgan Asset Management, is a leading global asset management firm with assets of approximately $2.4 trillion and operations in more than 60 countries. Information about JPMorgan Chase & Co. is available at www.jpmorganchase.com.

J.P. Morgan Asset Management, is a leading provider of comprehensive retirement solutions and is dedicated to improving individual retirement outcomes. The firm has defined contribution assets under management of nearly $146 billion, as of March 31, 2015.

J.P. Morgan Asset Management is the marketing name for the asset management businesses of JPMorgan Chase & Co. and its affiliates worldwide.

SOURCE J.P. Morgan