NARPP Announces Top 10 Retirement Service Providers

SAN FRANCISCO, March 13, 2014 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- NARPP (The National Association for Retirement Plan Participants) has ranked the top ten financial service providers that participants' trust to help them plan for retirement.

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The retirement service provider rankings are one of the findings from NARPP's independent Study, developed in collaboration with Boston Research Group and Stanford University. Conducted with 5,000 current retirement plan participants, the study was designed to identify the key drivers for retirement savings outcomes, demonstrate how successful individual providers are with helping their participants save, establish a baseline of financial literacy among plan participants, and assess the impact of financial literacy on savings behavior.

Twenty-three retirement plan providers were evaluated in NARPP's 2013 FELT™ Study, which specifically examined levels of trust, support, and confidence with participants' respective providers. At the top of the FELT 2013 Service Provider Rankings are New York Life, Charles Schwab, and JP Morgan.

"We think it's important for the industry, employers, and plan participants to be able to assess how service providers are doing with educating and building trust," said NARPP founder Laurie Rowley. "Our goal with publishing the rankings is to call attention to and to promote dialogue within the industry about how important financial literacy and trust are when it comes to retirement outcomes."

NARPP's 2013 FELT Service Provider Rankings correspond to the 2013 FELT Scores (Financial Empowerment Literacy and Trust). The FELT score is the first standardized metric to evaluate how well service providers are engaging and educating their plan participants, the level of trust that participants have in their providers, as well as participants' financial literacy and rates of deferral.

NARPP's 2013 FELT Study showed that only one-in-four (26%) participants feel they can "always trust their (respective) provider to do what is right." This varies widely by provider, from a low of 15% to a high of 38%.

"Trust in the provider has consequences in terms of participant behavior," Rowley said. "For instance, trust effects how often a participant will reach out to the service provider each year for assistance or information. Trust essentially determines the extent to which a participant will engage with their service provider as a partner in reaching retirement." 

The Top 10, FELT™ 2013 Service Provider Rankings
1. New York Life
2. Charles Schwab
3. JP Morgan
4. Hewitt
5. American Funds
6. Vanguard
7. TIAA/CREF
8. John Hancock
9 / 10. ADP, Fidelity

About NARPP
NARPP (National Association of Retirement Plan Participants) is a San Francisco-based nonprofit whose mission is to improve retirement savings outcomes. Through pioneering research, independent coalition building, and innovative educational programs, NARPP is making financial information transparent and universally accessible for the 145 million working Americans saving for retirement. www.NARPP.org

Media Contact: Laurie Rowley, NARPP, The National Association of Retirement Plan Participants, 415-509-9687, [email protected]

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SOURCE NARPP