PLANADVISER - January/February 2019 - 35

2019 PLANADVISER Micro Plan Survey
MACRO
MARKET,
MICRO
Our annual
gathering of
data on plans
with less than
$5 million in
assets points to
a promising
market for
advisers
T
he micro plan market, which the 2019 PLANADVISER Micro Plan Survey defines as
plans with under $5 million in assets, offers many opportunities for advisers. For one,
they can help improve these plans, which lag behind larger plans in many key areas of
design. Interesting is that 62%, looking at, for example, the $1 million to $5 million group,
already work with an adviser-indicating that advisers should be more proactive.
Only 24% of these micro plans have an adviser who serves as a 3(21) fiduciary, yet this is
true for 37% of plans overall. While the micro plans are pretty much in lockstep with larger
plans when it comes to reviewing fund performance (94% do so vs. 96% of all plans) and
offering plan investment selection guidance (91% vs. 93%), there are several areas where
the micro plans fell short. These included evaluating provider fees (76% vs. 82%), benchmarking
plan design (61% vs. 74%), creating and monitoring an investment policy statement
(IPS) (59% vs. 71%), and helping to select providers (66% vs. 70%).
There are, however, areas where the micro plans outdid their larger counterparts,
obviously because of the personal connections advisers can forge with the participants.
Thus, micro plans are more likely to offer group participant education sessions compared
with all plans (76% vs. 59% did so) and one-on-one participant education (76% vs. 57%).
The $1 million to $5 million micro plans also fell behind all plans when it came to
measuring plan success; this applied in terms of participation rates (58% vs. 72%), deferral
rates (39% vs. 58%), external benchmarking of plan design (16% vs. 26%), participants
saving to match (14% vs. 23%), and appropriateness of participant asset allocations (6%
vs. 14%). In fact, 34% of those micros reported having no formal plan success measures,
whereas that was the case for only 21% of all plans. -Lee Barney
Art by JooHee Yoon
planadviser.com January-February 2019 | 33

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PLANADVISER - January/February 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of PLANADVISER - January/February 2019

PLANADVISER - January/February 2019 - Cover1
PLANADVISER - January/February 2019 - Cover2
PLANADVISER - January/February 2019 - 1
PLANADVISER - January/February 2019 - 2
PLANADVISER - January/February 2019 - 3
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PLANADVISER - January/February 2019 - Cover3
PLANADVISER - January/February 2019 - Cover4
https://www.planadviserdigital.com/planadviser/july_august_2021
https://www.planadviserdigital.com/planadviser/may_june_2021
https://www.planadviserdigital.com/planadviser/march_april_2021
https://www.planadviserdigital.com/planadviser/january_february_2021
https://www.planadviserdigital.com/planadviser/november_december_2020
https://www.planadviserdigital.com/planadviser/september_october_2020
https://www.planadviserdigital.com/planadviser/july_august_2020
https://www.planadviserdigital.com/planadviser/may_june_2020
https://www.planadviserdigital.com/planadviser/march_april_2020
https://www.planadviserdigital.com/planadviser/january_february_2020
https://www.planadviserdigital.com/planadviser/november_december_2019
https://www.planadviserdigital.com/planadviser/september_october_2019
https://www.planadviserdigital.com/planadviser/july_august_2019
https://www.planadviserdigital.com/planadviser/may_june_2019
https://www.planadviserdigital.com/planadviser/march_april_2019
https://www.planadviserdigital.com/planadviser/january_february_2019
https://www.planadviserdigital.com/planadviser/november_december_2018
https://www.planadviserdigital.com/planadviser/september_october_2018
https://www.planadviserdigital.com/planadviser/july_august_2018
https://www.planadviserdigital.com/planadviser/may_june_2018
https://www.planadviserdigital.com/planadviser/march_april_2018
https://www.planadviserdigital.com/planadviser/january_february_2018
https://www.planadviserdigital.com/planadviser/november_december_2017
https://www.planadviserdigital.com/planadviser/september_october_2017
https://www.planadviserdigital.com/planadviser/july_august_2017
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