Survey says most retirement plan participants want advice

The number of retirement plan participants who want help with their investments jumped to 58% last year, from 26% in 2008, according to a survey released this week by Spectrem Group. That marks the greatest one-year increase since the consultancy began conducting the annual survey in 1994, as well as the first time more than half of respondents have said they want advice on their retirement plans. “That’s just a tremendous increase,” said Gerry O’Connor, Spectrem’s director. “The number was about the same for the better part of 16 tears, and it suddenly jumped. Now participants want somebody to bounce ideas off of and to validate their thinking, and some of them want really in-depth advice.” The group also found that retirement accounts such as defined-contribution and defined-benefit plans rose 18% to $9.3 trillion in 2009, up from $7.9 trillion in 2008, according to the survey, “Retirement Market Insights 2010.” Assets held in defined-contribution plans, which include 401(k) plans, increased 19% to $4.5 trillion, from $3.8 trillion the year before. 401(k) plans, which account for 71% of all DC assets, increased 20% to $2.3 trillion in 2009, up from $1.9 trillion in 2008. Spectrem surveyed 400 plan participants online in December 2009.