2020 Employee Retirement Trends Report
A Look at 401(k) Plans at the Intersection of a Pandemic, Presidential Election, and Racial Unrest
Between a contentious presidential election, heightened attention to racial inequality, and, of course, a global pandemic, it’s safe to say 2020 has been a year unlike any other. In November of 2020, Vestwell surveyed over 1000 employees who were either currently leveraging its platform for their retirement plan or were eligible to do so.
Some of our key insights include:
- Minorities such as African Americans and Hispanics/Latinos typically save at lower rates for retirement, even though they generally align with Caucasians regarding how much they believe they should be putting away. When looking at Caucasian respondents, almost 40% have $50k+ saved versus only 16% of Hispanics/Latinos and 11% of African Americans.
- Employees are generally open to plan advisors reaching out to them, with 70% of respondents saying they welcomed their advice when contacted. However, only 41% of participants surveyed said an advisor reached out to them over the past 12 months.
- Despite the pandemic putting millions of Americans in tight financial situations, interactions with their 401(k) accounts remained relatively stable. Only 7% of respondents took out a loan, hardship distribution, or both. However, 40% of those who leveraged these funds said it was related to COVID-19.
Download the full report below.
