There clearly is a lot of room to maximize usage of these plans.

the average person is not going to do anything.

Retiree medical expenses are the big wild card. Most people will probably spend a lot more on medical expenses when they retire.

toughest group of employees to reach.

There’s a lot of room for individuals to leverage investments in their plans to get the most out of their account.

Employers are trying to give workers vehicles ? such as lifestyle funds ? that make diversification easier.

If you save just 2% more and retire at 67 instead of 65, it dramatically improves your retirement outlook.

Many workers who are closer to retirement can be tempted to consume rather than save.

There just needs to be a different way employees approach it. There is a lack of understanding around the amount of responsibility individuals have when they’re relying on a 401(k) for retirement.

In many cases, employees don’t actively manage their 401(k) portfolios because they don’t know how to make good investment decisions, … They feel safer doing nothing.

Employees who do not contribute enough to receive their employer’s full matching contribution are leaving free money on the table.

It’s tended to be financial services firms or companies with employees who are investment-savvy. And they’ve been mainly responding to employee demand.

Despite all the attention around retirement, it’s discouraging to see that many people — especially younger workers — still do not feel a sense of urgency to take control of their financial security by investing...

We’ve noted over the past year that 401(k) participants’ reaction to the bear market has been best characterized as

Our findings show that too many workers are not looking at their 401(k) savings as long-term in nature but are instead using termination of employment as an opportunity to spend this money.

Employees investing in their 401(k) plans profited from a strong market last year, but they still weren’t engaged in the retirement savings process,

For the average person, these life cycle funds are an excellent option.

The average person is not making any choices on a proactive basis, on an annual basis. We have more anecdotal evidence that the individuals are not really sure what the choices are.

Perhaps participants are growing accustomed to market fluctuations or they are simply waiting until the volatility subsides.

About 81 percent say they plan to save later.

With such little evidence that many employees understand or appreciate the risk of owning large amounts of company stock, diversification remains an issue in many plans.

Clearly, this is a challenging group to get thinking about their futures.