Judy Diamond Associates' Analysis Reveals the States with the Greatest Growth in New 401(k) Plans

WASHINGTON, May 13, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Judy Diamond Associates, the 401(k) plan intelligence provider of leading financial advisors, brokers and fund companies, today revealed which states are experiencing the strongest relative growth in new 401(k) plans.

"New 401(k) plans are strong indicators of the creation of entirely new businesses or businesses that have reached a level of success where they can begin to offer their employees more and better benefits," said Eric Ryles, managing director of Judy Diamond Associates. "They are signs of economic growth and the states with the greatest ratio of new 401(k) plans are likely those with favorable small business environments."

For this study, Judy Diamond Associates looked at the number of newly initiated 401(k) plans, expressed as a percentage of all plans in that state. The study looked at the most recent year for which a complete set of data was available, 2012.

"The median participation rate for these new plans was 89%, which suggests that a lot of these new plans are taking advantage of automatic enrollment features, which have been available to plan sponsors for almost a decade as a result of the Pension Protection Act," Ryles continued. "Since our previous research has shown that participation rate is the single most important factor in achieving a positive retirement outcome, this figure is tremendously encouraging. It was also nice to see that nearly two-thirds of these employers contributed some amount to the plan on behalf of the employees."

Some interesting highlights from the research include:

• The 24,127 new 401(k) plans included in this study covered 443,969 participants.
• Participants in these new plans contributed an average of $1,769 each to their accounts. Employers added an average contribution of $1,091 per participant on their behalf.
• The median new plan covered 6 participants.
• One of the largest new plans was created by The Walt Disney Company, and is only open to those employees hired by Disney on or after January 1, 2012. In its first year, 4,522 employees were eligible to participate in the plan, though only 1,406 ended the year with an account balance.
• A total of 5.14% of all current 401(k) plans were new.

Top States by % of New 401(k) Plans:

Judy Diamond Associates based this research on the most recently available 401(k) plan disclosure documents released by the Department of Labor, which are available in its Retirement Plan Prospector database. Retirement Plan Prospector is an intuitive and comprehensive online sales prospecting and plan analysis tool, providing insights to the defined contribution and defined benefits markets.

For more information about this research, please contact us at www.judydiamond.com/about/contact or follow us on Twitter @401kFacts. 

ABOUT JUDY DIAMOND ASSOCIATES

Judy Diamond Associates is the premier provider of sales prospecting and plan analysis tools for benefits brokers, financial advisors, plan providers, and carriers serving the employee benefits and retirement markets.  Judy Diamond Associates offers instant access to 5500 plan data and a broad suite of analytical tools designed to support the lead generation, relationship building, market research, and plan analysis needs of benefits and retirement professionals. Judy Diamond Associates' business is built on a commitment to superb customer service and data integrity. We provide all of our customers with free training and access to our customer support hotline, 800-231-0669. Our team of data professionals is dedicated to ensuring our tools offer the most comprehensive, accurate and current data available.

Judy Diamond Associates is a Summit Professional Networks company.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Regina Glick
(646) 746-8878
[email protected]
Twitter: @401(k)Facts
www.judydiamond.com

SALES:
800-231-0669 [Toll Free]
202-728-0840

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140218/NE66839LOGO

SOURCE Judy Diamond Associates

WANT YOUR COMPANY'S NEWS FEATURED ON PRNEWSWIRE.COM?

440k+
Newsrooms &
Influencers

9k+
Digital Media
Outlets

270k+
Journalists
Opted In

GET STARTED