BENEFITS DIGEST

Jimmy Nesbitt’s roundup argues open enrollment goes better when communication runs all year, with employee resource groups feeding input, clear explanations of plan and cost changes, and a feedback loop afterward. The timing survey it cites about when to send enrollment messages reflects one vendor’s data rather than a universal ideal. Track employee questions, understanding and subsequent use of benefits, rather than treating completed enrollment forms as proof that the communication worked.

Morgan Stanley surveyed 200 decisionmakers at plans holding at least $50 million and found retirement plans ranked alongside health coverage in perceived employee value. Sponsors in the survey increasingly prioritize participant understanding and look to advisers for education help. A separate Voya survey associates education use with stronger financial behaviors, an association rather than proof of cause. The rankings reflect what sponsors believe employees value, which is not the same as asking the employees.

Practitioners surveying the young voluntary-benefits litigation wave see uncertainty on two fronts. One is the ERISA safe harbor, the conditions that can keep an employer’s limited involvement in voluntary insurance outside ERISA. The other is whether the economics will attract more filings, with 12 suits so far attributed to one insurer-side tracker. The recurring advice is consistency. Employers need to assess whether the arrangement is governed by ERISA and administer it consistently with that status, because negotiating better terms and limiting endorsement pull in opposite directions. Falling outside the safe harbor doesn’t by itself make a program an ERISA plan.

Cerulli’s new defined contribution research finds that putting a retirement income product on the menu doesn’t mean participants will use it or understand it. Participants want several things that can be difficult to deliver in a single product. 46 percent of participants want to withdraw money any time, 39 percent want a guaranteed monthly check that outlasts their savings, 40 percent want a detailed personal plan to follow and 31 percent want to keep changing investments. Cerulli’s conclusion is that no single product satisfies that mix, so sponsors may need two or three income options per menu, recordkeepers need infrastructure that actually supports them, and most pre-retirees won’t make these decisions without an advisor. 70 percent of recordkeepers told Cerulli that improving retiree distribution support is now an organizational priority.

Vanguard’s small-business supplement to How America Saves covers 21,000 plans with up to $50 million in assets, averaging 49 participants each, and the headline depends on which participation measure you pick. Averaged plan by plan, 73 percent of eligible employees participate. Counted across all eligible employees, only six in ten do, against 83 percent at large plans. The driver is design. Only 26 percent of small plans use automatic enrollment, against 61 percent of large plans, and auto-enrolled plans see 79 percent participation where voluntary plans see 51 percent. Once enrolled, small plan workers save like everyone else, contributing 7.5 percent of pay on average and 11 percent with employer money included, nearly identical to large plans. The report’s message for small employers is that these plans work once people are in them, and getting people in is the unfinished part.

Kevin Crain of the Institutional Retirement Income Council argues the industry’s own vocabulary is a barrier to retirement income adoption, citing research in which 72 percent of respondents wanted an annuity presented as payments for spending but only 21 percent wanted the identical product presented as an investment. His proposed language framework treats retirement income as a category rather than a product, and draws hard lines the marketplace currently blurs. Guaranteed income requires a contractual guarantee, protected income does not mean guaranteed, and a systematic withdrawal program cannot be sold as a paycheck for life unless it is built to last a lifetime with a disclosed guarantee. Crain, a former recordkeeper executive, says most of the jargon originated with recordkeepers and providers, and points to the Social Security claiming-age terminology bill awaiting signature as evidence that even entrenched language can be standardized.

KFF’s new survey of women ages 18 to 49 puts numbers on the leave gaps employers are asked to fill. Among recently employed mothers, 52 percent took paid parental leave, 35 percent took only unpaid leave and 13 percent took none at all, and more than a third of leave-takers were back within eight weeks. Mothers still shoulder much more of the caregiving. When a child is sick, 58 percent of working mothers say they usually stay home, against 20 percent of fathers, and 53 percent of those mothers lose pay to do it, rising to 76 percent among lower-income households. Support from employers could influence decisions about having children, with 43 percent of women saying employer-provided paid parental leave or childcare support would make having a child more likely, a figure that climbs past 70 percent among women already considering children. The survey fielded in March and April with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 points.

Three research shops land on the same gap. In DCIIA’s survey of pre-retirees, only 22 percent said their workplace plan offered guaranteed lifetime income, and another 29 percent did not know whether theirs does. Participants with access to guaranteed income or financial advice were more likely to report investing in it; 56 percent of those with access said they had invested, 68 percent of those working with an adviser held guaranteed income versus 40 percent of those without one, and the share rose to 86 percent after an in-depth income conversation with that adviser. LIMRA’s companion report has 71 percent of pre-retirees interested in protected lifetime income, with fees, loss of control and locked-up money as the stated holdups. Interest is substantial, but availability, fees and concerns about access to the money all appear to affect uptake.

Peter Sessions’ weekly survey leads with the Anderson argument, reading it as a good day for plan administrators. Two mental health decisions stand out in the rest of the issue. In the Northern District of California, the court in the long-running Wit reprocessing litigation against United Behavioral Health granted most of the class’s summary judgment motion, giving binding effect to earlier findings that the company’s coverage guidelines were improperly restrictive and excusing further administrative appeals as pointless, which keeps the largest behavioral health claims administration case in the country moving. And an Illinois court allowed a mental health parity claim over round-the-clock nursing coverage at a residential treatment center to proceed against a plan sponsored by insurance brokerage Arthur J. Gallagher. The survey also collects the week’s decisions on late appeals, discretionary clause bans, a pension calculator error that produced no remedy, and a $497,500 preliminary settlement approval.

The Q3 Justworks and U.S. Chamber Small Business Index finds small-business owners believe in benefits, with 95 percent saying they boost productivity and 94 percent saying they aid retention, and 46 percent now offer health insurance, up from 41 percent last year. But 67 percent wish they had outside help offering benefits, and in companion Harris Poll research 49 percent worry their current package makes hiring and retention harder. Justworks’ David Feinberg calls it the Bene-Fit Gap, the distance between what employers want to provide and what employees actually need, and his advice runs toward right-sizing. Focus on benefits employees will use, educate year-round, and ask brokers about alternative coverage models, including arrangements that reimburse employees for coverage they buy themselves, for cost predictability.

Proxy voting choice is quietly becoming a plan feature. Vanguard's new How Investors Vote report counts 507,000 investors in its Investor Choice program, up from 82,000 last year, with participating assets rising from $9 billion to $151 billion. The retirement-plan side is the notable part. Nearly 80 plan sponsors representing more than one million participants and $120 billion in assets now let participants choose how shares held by their index funds are voted on corporate matters, and Vanguard says the program expands to all of its U.S. equity index funds in 2027. Sponsors weighing governance questions from participants or committees now have a mainstream option to point to.

Kellanova and FedEx are asking the Supreme Court to hear disputes over how pension plans calculate benefits that continue paying a surviving spouse. The question is whether plans must use reasonable, up-to-date assumptions about life expectancy or can rely on the assumptions written into their plan documents. [Kellanova's petition](https://digest.theinnerfirm.com/docs/kellanova-cert-petition-2026-09-14.pdf) and [FedEx's companion petition](https://digest.theinnerfirm.com/docs/fedex-v-watt-cert-petition-2026-09-14.pdf), both filed September 14, come from a single divided Sixth Circuit decision holding that these spousal annuities must be calculated with reasonably accurate, modern mortality data even where the plan document specifies older tables. The Eleventh Circuit reads the statute the same way, while the D.C. Circuit treats the calculation as pure math under whatever assumptions the plan states. The petitions lean hard on the stakes. Defined benefit plans hold nearly $3 trillion and pay out over $250 billion a year, older mortality tables remain common in plan documents, and settlements in these suits have run from $10 million at CITGO to $59.2 million at Raytheon. Both sets of respondents have waived their right to respond unless the Court requests a response.

Section 103 of SECURE 2.0 replaces the Saver's Credit with a matching contribution from the federal government, and its implementation raises a series of decisions for plan sponsors. Seyfarth surveys the open questions about how the new match will operate.

The quarterly survey tracks health plan design challenges after Barbich v. Northwestern, the forfeiture line following the Eighth Circuit's standing dismissal in Matula, actuarial-equivalence rulings in the Sixth and Eleventh Circuits, and the Supreme Court's withdrawal-liability decision in M&K Employee Solutions, with the Fifth Circuit's en banc surcharge case and Anderson v. Intel on the watch list.

Kantor & Kantor's weekly survey leads with Laurel Hill Management Services v. La-Z-Boy, where the Sixth Circuit held a provider's claims preempted, reinforcing the circuit split with the Ninth Circuit's Healthcare Ally decision covered here last week. The same edition rounds up the week's district courts, including Kovacs v. Moradi, holding that restricted stock units are not ERISA plans, and Cregan v. Unum, finding that a voluntary accident plan failed the safe harbor on three of four prongs and is therefore ERISA-governed.

When plan sponsors think about retirement plan risk, they often focus on investment committees, financial advisors, or highly compensated executives. In reality, the employee who creates the greatest risk to a retirement plan is often someone far less visible.

PSCA survey finds more than 80% of employees contribute to their workplace Health Savings Accounts, but not enough workers are tapping their unique tax advantages.

Groom surveys the tobacco-surcharge docket after the trio of July decisions favoring employers, including the Target and Campbell Soup dismissals covered here this week, and asks whether the 75-case wave has crested or is merely regrouping.

Encore's fiduciary team surveys the fallout from the Fourth Circuit's Genworth decision calling out the rubber-stamping of broad ERISA classes, and argues the era of automatic certification is ending. The latest chapter in the class-certification story the Digest has followed since the decision came down.

2026 U.S. Retirement Trend Report from NFP finds 89% of workers trust employer-provided financial advisors, yet many miss out by not engaging

Nearly three-quarters of workplace retirement plan participants would prefer to delegate retirement planning and investing decisions, while younger generations increasingly expect employers to provide guidance

A survey of 1,000 American women ages 35 to 59 found 82% of those working had mistaken perimenopause symptoms for stress or burnout, a self-report about recognition rather than a diagnosis rate. Lee Hafner’s piece argues HR can respond on both fronts at once with better information, confidential access to care and accommodations, and points to employers such as Pinterest working with specialized providers. The $26 billion annual cost figure it cites from Mayo Clinic research combines medical expenses and lost productivity.

Three Hard Rock employees say the company’s health plan charged tobacco users $15 a week, $780 over a full year, without offering the full reward for completing a cessation program and without adequate notice that a doctor’s recommendation could substitute, allegations in the same mold as the surcharge suits against other large employers. Free access to a quit program alone doesn’t satisfy the wellness rules, the October 23 complaint argues. Four counts split between the surcharge’s design and the plan’s fiduciaries, seeking relief for a proposed class reaching back six years. How the plan is funded and which plan document governs are expressly unknown to the plaintiffs at this stage, no percentage-cap violation is claimed, and the allegations have not been decided.

Modern Health’s survey of 2,000 current and former therapy users finds 88% saying therapy met their needs, while the company’s leaders argue that much work stress is better addressed by lighter-touch coaching, better-equipped managers, and organizational change alongside clinical care. The respondents are therapy users rather than all employees, and the research and recommendations come from a vendor whose products sit where it points. Nothing in the piece establishes that anyone’s therapy was unnecessary, only that one size of care does not fit every stressor.

WTW’s global survey of 41,000 employees across 31 markets finds 70% saying their benefits meet their needs while 38% worry about AI harming job security, and reports that financial wellbeing has deteriorated even as other measures improved. The firm argues for more tailored support. The figures are global rather than U.S.-only, and the detailed report sits behind a registration form, so this introduction is what is freely readable.

PLANSPONSOR stitches together three surveys on how economic pressure reshapes retirement expectations. In F&G’s August survey of 2,001 adults 50 and older with at least $100,000 in investable assets, 51% of pre-retirees expect to semi-retire and 75% are considering delaying retirement. WTW’s global survey ties financial stress to burnout and missed work, and Payroll Integrations finds 62% of employees prefer higher pay or cost-of-living increases over additional financial tools. The common thread is affordability, not lack of education.

Voya’s first financial-confidence index, built from a June 22 to July 5 survey of nearly 4,100 benefits-eligible workers in workplace retirement plans, finds confidence running ahead of behavior, 67 against 62 on its 100-point scale. Workers who used workplace financial education reported stronger financial habits, with a behavior score of 71 against 59 for nonusers, and adviser users scored 69 against 57. The survey shows associations, not proof that the education caused the differences. Covering a $2,500 emergency ranked as the top confidence driver, and 35% report being always or often financially stressed.

The underlying WTW numbers show physical and financial well-being moving in opposite directions. Workers reporting they are physically thriving rose to 64% from 54% in 2019 while those feeling financially secure fell to 36% from 46%, and about half live paycheck to paycheck. Health costs register as a retirement barrier for 47% of respondents, and the high-stress group reports 23.6 days of combined absence and presenteeism, time at work impaired by poor health or stress. The article argues for affordable core health, retirement and leave benefits rather than more choices.

HR Dive pairs WTW’s findings with an interview with Marsh’s Tracy Watts. Benefits satisfaction coexists with financial strain, and missed care splits sharply by age, with 41% of workers in their 40s delaying or skipping care against 21% of those 60 and older. Watts points employers toward affordability, payment arrangements and better coordination of existing benefits rather than a longer benefits menu.

Your ERISA Watch surveys a busy week of benefits litigation, led by the Fifth Circuit’s affirmance of a judgment against a business owner who failed to transmit employee contributions and pay health claims. Other entries address releases, fiduciary duties, arbitration and benefit disputes. In the lead case, [Sonderling v. Sills](https://digest.theinnerfirm.com/docs/sonderling-v-sills-opinion-2026-10-06.pdf), the court upheld a $209,466.34 award and a permanent ban on serving as an ERISA fiduciary. The owner’s financial-distress and delegation arguments didn’t undo the record establishing his responsibility.

EBRI and Greenwald Research surveyed 1,238 workers ages 21 to 64 in late June and July for the seventh annual edition of this survey. Concern eased slightly across every well-being measure, with financial worry at 6.0 on a 10-point scale, down from its 2022 high of 6.9, yet 70 percent of workers report problematic debt and 57 percent say they often or always feel sick at work. Workers pointed to retirement plans and health insurance as their leading sources of financial security, at 64 and 63 percent, while only 52 percent are very or extremely satisfied with their benefits package and 45 percent name a bigger employer contribution as the most valuable improvement. Two findings deserve a benefits manager’s attention. A quarter of insured workers now say their plan covers GLP-1 drugs for weight loss, up from 16 percent last year, and 45 percent agree employers should cover them. And on AI, 71 percent are concerned about bias in AI tools used for benefit recommendations, while given the choice only 15 percent would pick an AI-powered benefits counselor over a human one.

Ahead of World Mental Health Day on October 10, the Wellness Alliance’s Ashton DeMoss turns this year’s theme into employer practice. The argument is that employees with lived experience of mental health conditions should help shape the policies and benefits meant to support them, not just share stories at awareness events. The concrete suggestions include peer-led resource groups, genuine input channels into benefits and communications decisions, and a review of leave, accommodation and return-to-work policies through a mental health lens.

Two studies published October 6 map how the line between plan advice and wealth management keeps blurring. Cerulli and Morningstar’s Building the Bridge to Wealth finds 63 percent of surveyed advisers treat DC plans as at least a moderate priority for wealth prospecting, while 40 percent of participants already work with an adviser and, among those who do not, 20 percent want to hire one and 45 percent are undecided. The barriers are perception; 54 percent of unadvised participants believe they are not wealthy enough and 67 percent doubt advisory fees are worth the cost. A companion Crisil Coalition Greenwich study of hybrid investors adds a caution for the industry, clients who combine advised and self-directed accounts are 67 percent more likely to consider leaving their adviser and three times more open to automated advice. Sponsors should expect more financial wellness programs and one-on-ones that are also, candidly, prospecting.

Payroll Integrations’ 2026 Employee Financial Wellness Report, fielded through Dynata, finds 82 percent of employees still contributing to their workplace retirement plan but only 34 percent expecting to retire comfortably. The number that should bother HR is about its own programs; employee confidence in employer financial wellness support fell from 74 percent to 35 percent in a year. Cost of living leads retirement worries at 45 percent, ahead of Social Security at 34 percent, and 22 percent have already dipped into retirement savings with another 19 percent considering it in the next year. The spillover is concrete. 38 percent say financial stress has strongly affected their mental health at work, 23 percent have declined employer benefits because of cost, and 63 percent have considered changing jobs over their finances, half of those specifically for better benefits.

Prudential’s 2026 Retirement Pulse Survey asked 3,023 pre-retirees and retirees age 50 and up about spending their own money, and only 14 percent were comfortable using retirement savings each month on things they enjoy. Forty percent would rather leave money behind than risk running short, 29 percent take pride in a bank balance that never moves, and wealth doesn’t cure it: among respondents with at least $500,000 saved, 61 percent still weren’t comfortable spending on themselves. The reasons given are Social Security uncertainty, inflation and health costs, and a third don’t know how long the money has to last. One Prudential planner summed up the job: “I have to give my clients permission to spend.”

Will Prest’s test for a financial wellness program is whether it helps an employee choose, not just learn. His composite employee juggles a 401(k), an HSA, credit card debt and a parent she helps support, and every tool she’s offered addresses one slice without ranking her priorities. EBRI’s 2025 employer survey found more than three quarters of firms ran cost-benefit analyses on their wellness offerings, and connecting standalone benefits remains one of the sticking points employers name. He’d ask any vendor three questions. Can employees compare options against the benefits they actually have? How do they reach a qualified human when they’re stuck? And what turns a decision into action? Measure follow-through, he argues, not logins.

Housing costs, everyday expenses, and debt are making it harder for workers to increase their retirement savings. Goldman Sachs Asset Management's 2026 retirement survey, released Wednesday, finds the share of workers who increased their retirement savings fell to 39 percent from 55 percent a year ago, while the share who cut savings nearly doubled to 14 percent. The pressure points differ by generation, and 61 percent of surveyed workers report working outside their primary job, most of them out of financial need. Only 58 percent of savers call themselves on track, down from 68 percent last year. For sponsors, the survey argues for plan design that treats emergency savings, debt, and retirement as one connected problem rather than competing line items.

The FTC and the states have taken over where HIPAA stops on health data from website trackers. Goodwin's survey starts from the July action against telehealth platform Hims & Hers over tracking code that shared customer information with advertising platforms, and maps the wider landscape after a 2024 court ruling curbed HHS's position that tracking data from website visitors who are not logged in counts as protected health information. California wiretap and privacy statutes, Washington's My Health My Data Act, and more than 20 other state laws now regulate consumer health data outside HIPAA. Employers should check their wellness portals, benefits tools, and plan websites for tracking technology that shares information with advertising companies. HIPAA is not the only privacy law that may apply.

The United States fell three places to 24th in Natixis Investment Managers' 2026 Global Retirement Index. Its ranking for retirement finances dropped eight places to 18th. It ranked 25th for health despite having the highest per-person health spending among the countries measured. Norway and Ireland ranked highest overall. In a separate measure of investor sentiment, 81 percent of U.S. investors surveyed said funding retirement is their responsibility, up from 63 percent a decade ago. And 76 percent expected public debt to lead to reduced benefits.

Two data points for the debate the comment file above was supposed to inform. CFA Institute modeled private equity, private debt, infrastructure, real estate, and venture capital inside target-date glide paths and reached a two-sided result: funds with private equity allocations generally produced higher average retirement balances, but a 10 percent allocation didn't materially change where a participant lands over a working career, and contribution rates and time in the plan mattered more than the allocation. “Opening access is not the same as improving retirement outcomes,” the institute's Olivier Fines said. Participants, meanwhile, sound willing: Invesco's summer survey of 517 large-plan participants found 58 percent view the higher-fee, higher-potential-return trade-off favorably and 65 percent would rather reach private markets through a target-date fund than pick the assets themselves.

Eighty percent of Americans now say the country faces a retirement crisis, per National Institute on Retirement Security research, as inflation and healthcare costs squeeze what households can put away.

With 59% of Americans lacking the savings to cover an emergency expense, employers are rethinking financial wellness benefits, from emergency savings programs to retirement plans to AI-powered financial advice.

MetLife's president of U.S. business makes the case that improving employees' benefits literacy leads to smarter choices for their health and financial wellness, an argument for personalized decision support as employers look for ways to get more from every premium dollar.

Pay growth and long-term incentives matter most to employees at the moment as well as spot bonuses with increased frequency, Gartner said.

A new report by the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies examining the retirement prospects of the middle class finds them feeling positive but stressed over competing financial priorities.

New NIRS survey shows deepening concerns about retirement viability in current economy, plus a distrust of AI financial advice and crypto investments.

A new report suggests that employees ages 55+ who engage with virtual financial wellness benefits make significant progress toward key retirement readiness milestones.

A Zety survey finds a fifth of Gen X workers expect never to retire, with rising costs and inflation the leading culprits.

Financial Finesse research suggests employees approaching retirement who engage with virtual financial wellness programs are significantly more likely to take key planning actions and improve retirement readiness.

Employees are facing rising financial stress, retirement savings gaps, and competing priorities, but new financial wellness trends are emerging to help.

Kevin Crain says the future of financial wellness depends on whose interests come first.

Offering a diverse array of financial wellness solutions can help reach a ‘distributed workforce,’ a recent Commonwealth report suggests.

Consumer credit trends and household financial health help illustrate the backdrop against which companies are thinking about employee financial wellness.

A Bank of America report reveals a disconnect between employers and employees on fiscal wellness, while educational programs can improve retention and engagement.

New NFP research finds 72% of workers are behind on retirement as rising costs, competing priorities, and financial stress make saving harder.

Fewer financial worries and increased longevity were among the benefits reported by Chilean retirees surveyed about guaranteed income.

The ERISA Industry Committee collects reactions to the Labor Department proposal that would let health plans deliver required documents electronically by default, with paper available on request. The coalition voices in the roundup want the option extended more broadly across welfare plans, and the $19.5 billion savings estimate the piece cites belongs to that wider extension, not the proposal as written. Its survey figures run 91% of participants with internet access and 78% preferring electronic delivery. This is advocacy for a pending proposal, and nothing changes for plans yet.

Confidence and financial pressure coexist in MFS’s survey of 1,000 retirement-plan participants. While 41% believe they can retire when they want, six in ten expect to work longer and three quarters plan to save more. Confidence was 47% among men, 33% among women and 32% among Gen X participants. Those differences give sponsors and advisers a reason to look beyond a single workforce-wide confidence score when planning education. The survey captures expectations, not a calculation of whether participants have saved enough.

Medication costs can show up in retirement savings. Among GLP-1 users surveyed by Nationwide, 14% reported withdrawing retirement money, 14% reported reducing contributions and 17% reported taking on new debt. 51% worried about trading retirement security for the medication, even as 88% remained optimistic about its health benefits. These self-reported findings don’t establish that the drugs caused the financial changes. They do give health and retirement teams a shared issue to examine when assessing employees’ out-of-pocket costs.

The US portion of State Street’s retirement survey, covering 4,040 adults ages 45 and older, finds only 24% of pre-retirees reporting high confidence in fully retiring, and 21% feeling optimistic about their financial preparedness. The findings point toward practical transition and income-planning help at the moment of retirement rather than product pitches. The pre-retiree and retiree samples answer different questions, so their figures describe different groups.

Empower’s research describes savings scattered across prior-employer plans as workers change jobs, with roughly one-third of respondents reporting they may have lost track of a retirement account and 57% saying complexity has led them to delay action. The recommended fixes are practical, clearer information at job transitions and human help when participants ask for it. The figures are survey self-reports rather than verified counts of lost accounts, and the findings arrive as the industry builds out auto-portability infrastructure aimed at the same problem.

Ted Godbout reports the generational split in Empower’s survey data on lost retirement accounts, with 50% of Gen Z and 45% of Millennial respondents saying they may have lost track of savings from past employers, against 30% of Gen X and 14% of Baby Boomers. The survey covered 2,005 U.S. adults from July 30 to August 1, and 41% of respondents were not confident they could locate all their savings, while 84% have changed employers. These are self-reports, and the findings point to clearer job-transition information and human guidance rather than a blanket recommendation to consolidate every account.

Gallagher’s research finds employers leaning on automatic enrollment, automatic escalation, and eligibility changes to close a readiness gap, with only 28% of employees saying their current strategy will meet their retirement goals. The employer data come from a 3,717-employer survey, while the employee readiness figure comes from separate polling, so the two numbers should not be chained together.

Devenir’s [midyear survey](https://www.devenir.com/hsa-assets-reach-nearly-192-billion-at-midyear-2026-with-more-than-half-now-invested/) counts nearly $192 billion across 42.6 million health savings accounts at June 30, with just over half of the assets invested. The majority-of-assets figure can mislead, since only 11% of accounts hold any investments and just over half of accounts sit under $500 including zero balances. Employer-affiliated accounts hold 65% of the assets, which is why the numbers matter to sponsors. The industry’s growth projections in the report are forecasts, and the research is provider-reported.

Transamerica’s survey of 100 healthcare organizations finds automatic enrollment at 77% of responding employers. Among those employers, 64% set the default below the contribution needed for the full match, so employees who stay at that rate can miss part of the match. Respondents say living costs and healthcare costs are what their employees feel most, and personalized financial support is where they are putting attention. It is an employer-reported survey rather than an employee survey, and the figures describe the responding organizations, not the industry.

Gallagher’s newly released 2026 U.S. Financial Benchmarks Report, built on a survey of 3,717 U.S. organizations fielded January through March, finds 85% offering retirement benefits but the supporting features uneven. 57% use automatic enrollment and only 5% provide an emergency-savings benefit. The argument is to judge a benefits program by participant outcomes rather than by what is merely offered.

Two research streams point the same direction. In Guardian’s June survey of 2,082 U.S. adults, 34% said they had planned how to receive income at age 80 and beyond, compared with 48% who had planned for income during their 60s, and 75% worried about unexpected events affecting their retirement savings. Cerulli’s participant research finds 46% want flexibility, about 40% want a concrete action plan, 39% want guarantees and 31% want investment choice. The shared conclusion is that no single income solution fits every participant, and that translating balances into income is where help is wanted.

LIMRA finds that many workers have thought about retirement income but spent little time planning for it. In the survey, 88% have thought about income, yet 76% spent five hours or less on planning in the past year, and only 40% worked with a professional. Those who did reported feeling prepared at 77% versus 47% without, an association the research does not establish as causal. About three-quarters want education on protected income, and a quarter expect such products to cover essentials.

Only 34 percent of adults surveyed for Guardian’s Retirement Redefined research said they had actively planned for income at age 80 and beyond, compared with 48 percent who had planned for ages 60 through 69. The research covered more than 2,000 U.S. adults and found uncertainty about which years of retirement would cost the most. More than half hadn’t worked with a financial adviser. Guardian argues that advice and guaranteed income products can help address the gap; that recommendation comes from an insurer with an interest in the market. The practical question for retirement education is broader than an account balance. Participants also need to consider how they’ll pay their bills if retirement lasts much longer than they expected.

Participants may trust their employer’s retirement plan without wanting to leave their money there forever. An Allspring and Defined Contribution Institutional Investment Association survey of more than 1,500 respondents found that nearly a third wanted guaranteed income benefits in their workplace plan, while 70 percent placed greater importance on access and control. Adviser use increased sharply as retirement approached, and participants working with advisers were more likely to move assets out of the plan. Allspring’s analysis urges sponsors to think explicitly about whether they want to retain retirees’ assets or help participants move into another arrangement. Low fees, useful guidance and a range of income options matter to that choice. The survey describes competing participant preferences; it doesn’t establish that an in-plan annuity or a rollover is the right answer for everyone.

Nationwide Retirement Institute’s 2026 Healthcare Costs Survey quantifies a tradeoff benefits teams have sensed. Among current GLP-1 users, nearly half worry the drugs’ cost is eroding their retirement savings. Fifty-four percent have changed financial behavior to afford the medications, including 17 percent taking on debt and 14 percent each withdrawing from savings or trimming retirement contributions. Out-of-pocket costs average $203 a month for users whose insurance does not fully cover the drugs. Among surveyed GLP-1 users, 88 percent feel better about their long-term health, and 64 percent say they may retire later because of it. But 59 percent doubt they can afford the medications in retirement.

MetLife’s 2026 pension risk transfer poll surveyed 250 defined benefit plan sponsors with at least $100 million in assets and goals to reduce pension risk. Among those sponsors, 88 percent are considering transferring obligations to an insurer and 80 percent plan to shed their pension liabilities entirely within five years, and among the sponsors open to an insurer deal, 32 percent expect to complete one within two years. Half name interest rates as the top catalyst, and the share ranking an insurer’s financial strength as the leading selection factor jumped to 65 percent from 33 percent a year ago. October Three’s companion survey of insurers reports that full plan terminations made up 66 percent of these transactions in the first half of 2026, and that deals covering only retirees already receiving benefits made up another 28 percent. Milliman puts the competitive cost of buying annuities for retirees at 99.9 percent of the liabilities recorded for accounting purposes, the fourth straight month below 100 percent. The insurers’ chief complaint lands on sponsors. Incomplete participant data was the top obstacle to onboarding for 72 percent of carriers.

Financial pressure is affecting workers’ retirement savings and their performance at work, EBN reports from Goldman Sachs Asset Management’s 2026 retirement survey. The survey of 5,106 people found the share increasing their retirement savings fell to 39 percent from 55 percent, the largest single-year drop in six years, while nearly 70 percent have delayed a major financial goal and 66 percent of Gen Z, millennial and Gen X respondents expect to delay retirement. Inside the workplace, 54 percent say money worries make it hard to focus at work, 32 percent missed work in the past year over a financial problem, 34 percent are likely to job-hunt mainly to improve their finances, and 61 percent work a second job, mostly out of need. The bright spot is planning. Among the 64 percent with a personalized retirement plan, 72 percent believe they are on track, versus 33 percent without one, and Goldman’s strategists pitch that gap as a plan design question. Strain also does not fade with income. Workers earning above $300,000 report living paycheck to paycheck more often than those in the middle of the income range.

BlackRock’s Future of Wealth report surveys 1,067 affluent and high-net-worth women alongside 409 advisers, 84 percent of them male, and finds the two groups describing different clients. Women rank growing wealth, preserving wealth and creating retirement income as their top priorities; advisers guessed preservation, supporting family and life transitions, and ranked growing wealth eighth. The biggest disconnect is where the money came from. 79 percent of the women say salary and career earnings built their wealth, while 63 percent of advisers assume inheritance and 62 percent assume marriage or partnership. With women projected to control $34 trillion in U.S. investable assets by 2030, BlackRock argues the workplace, with its equity compensation, plan savings and executive benefits, is where engagement starts.

A Harris Poll of 2,000 moderate-income adults finds 80 percent of Gen X and millennial savers think the economic rules that served older workers have changed, 63 percent expect Social Security to be depleted before they can draw it, and 85 percent want guaranteed income as a core 401(k) feature. The follow-through lags, though. Eighty-six percent of those familiar with annuities find them appealing, 53 percent find them too complex, and just 3 percent expect annuities to carry them in retirement. Athene, which sells annuities, commissioned the survey.

TIAA’s “Retirement in the Age of AI and GLP-1s” survey polled 1,000 adults through KRC Research in late July. On longevity, 53 percent worry more about outliving their savings than about underspending, and 43 percent doubt traditional retirement planning accounts for lives that stretch into the 90s. On what AI will do to their finances, 27 percent expect breakthrough treatments to raise costs, 22 percent expect efficiency to lower them, 20 percent expect little effect, and the rest can’t say. Separately, a third are seriously concerned AI could threaten their earning potential before they retire, a worry that peaks with Generation Z. TIAA’s read is that these are all longevity problems, and its consultants’ advice to employers is to weigh guaranteed lifetime income in plan design on par with fees and the investment menu.

Ron Surz questions how personalized an investment service can be when it's chosen automatically for workers who haven't provided any information about their finances or comfort with risk. A qualified default investment alternative is the investment a 401(k) plan uses for employees who never make a choice, so, he argues, the personalization in a managed-account default rests entirely on recordkeeper data about age and wealth, with no read on how much risk the person is willing to take. Of the roughly $16 trillion the research firm Cerulli counts in managed accounts across workplace plans and IRAs, Surz puts less than $1 trillion in the default version, and a 2024 survey by the consulting firm NEPC found 46% of plans offer managed accounts while only 9% default participants into them. He favors customized target-date funds built to workforce demographics instead.

An eHealth survey of more than 500 small and midsized business owners and managers finds 54 percent of those offering group coverage facing double-digit premium increases for 2027, and 73 percent actively weighing whether to drop the benefit altogether. The options discussed run from raising deductibles to reimbursement arrangements that give employees money to buy their own individual coverage, with the caveat that savings from cutting coverage tend to leak back out through higher wages and harder hiring.

TIAA's survey of 1,000 adults finds 53 percent worry more about outliving their savings than about underspending in retirement, and 83 percent carry financial concerns about living longer. Younger respondents were more worried about AI. Forty-two percent of Generation Z respondents are extremely or very concerned AI will hurt their career and retirement savings, against 28 percent of Generation X and baby boomer respondents combined. TIAA, which sells annuities, argues that guaranteed retirement income can help address those concerns.

A jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction voting leave survey ahead of the November 3 election. Counting the 50 states plus Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico: 23 jurisdictions require some form of paid time off to vote, seven require time off without specifying pay, and 22 states impose no requirement. There's no general federal requirement that private employers provide voting leave. The details are where employers trip: 19 states excuse time off when polls are open outside work hours, 16 require advance notice from the employee, and California and New York require a posted notice at least 10 days before the election.

The IRS is telling workers the federal government will match their retirement savings. [Notice CP321J](https://www.irs.gov/individuals/understanding-your-cp321j-notice) goes to filers who claimed the saver's credit on 2025 returns or whose income was in the eligible range. The match takes effect in 2027. Eligible workers will receive a federal contribution of up to 50 percent of the first $2,000 they save, a maximum of $1,000. The money goes directly into the worker's retirement account, with the first deposits arriving in 2028. Plans can choose whether to accept the federal matching deposits. In PSCA's survey, 45.6 percent of plan sponsors say they will not, 16 percent had not heard of the program, and 2.4 percent plan to accept. Eligible workers whose plans do not accept the deposits may be able to direct the match to a traditional IRA that does, per [Notice 2026-48](https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-26-48.pdf), and amounts under $100 can be taken as a refundable credit instead. Since about half of Americans do not know what the saver's credit is even as it phases out, employers should be ready for participant questions when the notices land.

Schroders' 2026 U.S. Retirement Survey puts the number workers think they need at $5,094 a month, and finds more than half of nonretired Americans worried about outliving their assets. But many have no strategy for turning balances into a paycheck. Workers need help turning their savings into income that lasts.

Business and benefits groups have urged the Fourth Circuit to reject a challenge to Northrop Grumman's use of 401(k) forfeitures. Participants say the money should have reduced their administrative expenses rather than the company's contributions. The groups argue that ERISA doesn't require fiduciaries to provide benefits beyond those promised by the plan. Hall Benefits Law summarizes the competing positions in appeal No. 26-1258.

The number anchoring the trend, per KFF's 2025 employer health benefits survey: 18 percent of employers with 5,000 or more employees had direct contracts with hospitals or health systems in 2025, up from 9 percent in 2019. In EBN's Q&A, Frier Levitt's Arielle Miliambro identifies potential savings in areas such as musculoskeletal care, oncology and cardiology, and discusses approaches including bundled payments and direct primary care. The draw is control. Contracting directly can give the employer more say over payment terms, the ability to tie reimbursement to outcomes, and access to claims-level data, with the contract determining what it actually gets. The obstacles get equal time, from legal and actuarial infrastructure most employers lack to provider systems with little incentive to deal where they dominate. Her starting advice is the practical part: identify the conditions, procedures and locations driving your costs. Without that information, it is hard to know what to negotiate.

A four-page Fast Facts with a generational scorecard drawn from the Survey of Consumer Finances, comparing families at similar life stages. Millennials are the most likely of the three generations to own retirement assets and hold the largest share of their total wealth in them, the fingerprint of the defined benefit to defined contribution shift, while boomer families show by far the lowest median retirement account balance at the comparison point. Useful framing for sponsors weighing how much heavy lifting the 401(k) now does for each cohort.

A recap of recent Mercer and Broadridge webinar discussions on why employers offer retirement plans at all. Benefits rank among the top reasons workers join and stay, sponsoring a plan is business strategy rather than administration, and a plan left unattended becomes a problem. The gap the panelists kept returning to is confidence, with only 57% of participants believing their savings will last a lifetime.

Marsh's national survey of more than 1,800 employers projects health benefit costs rising 8.2% in 2027, the sharpest annual jump since 2003, and 11% for employers who take no action. Some 59% plan cost-reduction moves such as raising deductibles, and GLP-1 coverage alone accounts for about a percentage point of the increase.

Employers project base merit increases of 3.2 percent and total salary increases of 3.5 percent for 2027, in line with recent years, while employees' average healthcare contribution climbs 7.9 percent to $5,297. Only 13 percent of organizations had finalized 2027 salary budgets as of July.

Remote financial wellness programs can improve retirement saving behavior, but surveyed consumers still prefer personal or hybrid communication with advisers.

Transamerica Institute study shows financial pressures are eating into middle-class workers' ability to save, and prompting them to work longer.

Transamerica Institute finds more middle-class workers expect to fund retirement through 401(k)s and other savings, but financial pressures could derail those plans.

PSCA's annual Health Savings Account survey found 83% of eligible employees contributed to their HSAs in 2025, up from 73% a year earlier, while only about a quarter of employers actively position HSAs as part of a long-term retirement savings strategy. NAPA's read: participation is no longer the problem, and the open opportunity for employers is helping workers treat the accounts as more than a spending vehicle.

TD Bank survey finds 75% of Americans have delayed at least one major milestone because of their finances, with Gen Z feeling the greatest impact.

WTW 2026 Defined Contribution Survey report finds employers are asking defined contribution plans to do more than they were originally designed for, prompting greater focus on retirement income, AI, governance, and measurable participant outcomes.

Even high-income employees are uncertain about where to put their next dollar, highlighting the need for workplace guidance on financial wellness.

Employers have an opportunity to encourage workers to participate in a retirement savings account today.

Allianz Life study finds seven in 10 workers and retirees struggle with the psychological shift from saving to spending, as retirement risks make it difficult to confidently begin drawing down retirement accounts.

Key Wealth survey finds many mass affluent inheritors are reducing retirement savings and taking on more investment risk based on inheritances they often haven't confirmed they'll receive.

Employers who recognize these compromises are most likely to see behavioral changes from participants, Schroders’ study reports.

Nearly two-thirds of surveyed defined contribution plan participants relied on their own financial adviser or one provided by an employer for plan decisions.

Thrivent shows split in retirement confidence among savers hurdling through market inflation and advancements in AI technology

American workers struggle to balance saving for retirement with other concerns such as emergency funds, paying down debt, healthcare and everyday expenses

July 14 is the inaugural Women’s Retirement Security Day, a day the American Retirement Association created to acknowledge the unique challenges women face in saving for retirement.

Emily Boyle’s installment in the Roadmap series sorts retirement-income options into three categories and explains what makes guaranteed products different, including their dependence on the insurer standing behind them, partial annuitization, fees and credit ratings. A survey of 2,000 pre-retirees found 22% have access to a retirement-income product in their plan and 29% don’t know whether their plan offers one, while 59% of those with access invest in one, a share of the smaller access group rather than of everyone surveyed. The piece frames the sponsor’s work as education and provider selection, not a mandate to add anything.

Seven Aon employees accuse the insurance brokerage of self-dealing in its own welfare benefit plan, alleging that Aon acted as both employer and broker and collected $14,834,190 in commissions and administrative fees from 2020 through 2024 on coverage its workers paid for. The October 23 complaint runs three counts, a prohibited-transaction claim and claims for disloyalty and failure to monitor. The plan’s scope is broad, medical, dental, life, disability, legal and other coverage, not just the supplemental products that have driven the recent voluntary-benefits suits. The aggregate figure is the plaintiffs’ allegation, and receiving commissions is not by itself unlawful.

Joshua Hill surveys the growing fight over what happens when a health plan simply doesn’t pay a surprise-billing arbitration award. Federal appeals courts have held providers can’t sue to enforce the awards directly, while at least one district court has gone the other way, leaving regulators’ penalties, rather than individual collection suits, as the main enforcement path, with a separate open question about routes through general arbitration law. Whether a provider can collect an unpaid award in court remains unsettled, with the appeals courts and at least one district court divided, and new collection suits keep testing that uncertainty.

Bradley surveys the accommodation side of menopause law, anchored by Illinois’s statute taking effect January 1, 2027, which reaches employers with as few as one employee. The piece covers Rhode Island, Philadelphia and New Jersey alongside pending proposals elsewhere, and recommends updating notices, policies and interactive-process training. Coverage under the Americans with Disabilities Act isn’t automatic, and the examples are possibilities to evaluate rather than unconditional duties.

Menopause is becoming a benefits and workplace-policy issue through several different legal routes. IFEBP identifies proposed federal legislation, research coordination and state measures, including workplace and insurance provisions in Illinois and insurance requirements in Louisiana, Maryland and New Jersey. Employers need to separate coverage mandates affecting fully insured plans from obligations that may apply in the workplace; the insurance mandates do not extend to self-funded ERISA plans. The developments described do not themselves create a new federal accommodation mandate. In the cited survey, 13% of women had left a job over symptoms and 15% had considered it.

KFF’s annual benchmark survey, published October 22, puts the average family premium at $28,303, up 5% from 2025, with workers contributing $7,471 of it, up 9% or $621. Single coverage averages $9,804 with workers paying $1,672, and among workers whose plans have a general annual deductible, the average for single coverage is $1,955. The [announcement](https://www.kff.org/private-insurance/workers-now-pay-7471-on-average-annually-for-family-health-coverage-up-9-or-621-from-2025-benchmark-employer-health-benefits-survey-finds/) highlights the cost shifting behind the worker numbers, with 44% of large employers, those with 200 or more workers, reporting they increased the share of premiums workers pay. Among those large firms, 18% cover GLP-1 drugs for weight loss, essentially flat from last year.

Deel’s study finds that nearly a quarter of fathers do not return to the same position after parental leave, with American white-collar fathers taking more leave than fathers in the 12 other countries studied. Across the countries surveyed, not returning to the same position does not necessarily mean leaving the workforce. For employers the figure is a retention question attached to a leave policy.

Morgan Stanley’s survey of employers finds the 401(k) treated as a marquee benefit, with about a third of respondents calling it the single most important offering and retirement tying healthcare in top-five mentions. Employers also report leaning on plan design and education to compete for workers. These are employer perceptions rather than a ranking by employees, and the article supplies no sample size.

Epstein Becker Green surveys the laws beginning to treat menopause as a protected characteristic or an accommodation trigger. Rhode Island went first, enacting workplace menopause protections in June 2025, and two more arrive on January 1, 2027, when Illinois’s Menopause Equity and Care Act will require employers with four or more employees to provide reasonable accommodations and post notices of employees’ rights, and Philadelphia’s ordinance will make menstruation, perimenopause, and menopause protected classes with an accommodation duty. Separate New York and federal proposals remain proposals. For multistate employers the near-term work is accommodation processes plus handbook and notice updates.

Northwestern Mutual’s 2026 Planning and Progress Study, a Harris Poll survey of 4,375 adults fielded in January, finds 61 percent of adults expect to need long-term care and 73 percent would rather receive it at home, yet 54 percent have made no financial plan for it. The study prices a home health aide working eight hours a day at $99,280 a year in 2025, citing illumifin’s cost of care data. Caregiving is already reshaping younger workers’ finances. About a fifth of Gen Z and Millennial respondents are currently providing care, and 10 percent of current and former caregivers report reallocating retirement funds to cover it, per the study. For sponsors, the study reads as a case for pairing retirement education with long-term care planning before the costs arrive.

EY surveyed about 100 HR and benefits leaders in April about value-based care, the model that ties what a plan pays to quality and outcomes rather than to the volume of services delivered. Forty percent haven't tied any health spending to such models, nearly half of the adopters call their use limited rather than scaled, 45% plan no changes over the next three years, and only 3% run more than 31% of medical spend through value-based payment. The same employers name controlling medical and pharmacy costs as their top benefits priority.

More than three-quarters of calendar-year multiemployer pension plans surveyed by Segal are in the green zone for 2026, meaning they are not classified as endangered or critical, and counting plans receiving special financial assistance there are more well-funded plans now than in 2008, when zone certifications began. Two federal appeals courts also held this year, in Reichert v. Kellogg and Drummond v. Southern Company Services, that the assumptions used to calculate different pension payment options must be reasonable. Those assumptions can affect how much a retiree receives when choosing, for example, a pension that continues paying a surviving spouse. The courts did not prescribe a single acceptable method. The recap also carries quarter-in-review notes on the Federal Reserve and a short framework for using AI on plan documents and participant communications, with human review of everything AI produces.

Milliman's annual market survey puts group disability and statutory leave coverage at $24.4 billion of in-force premium for 2025, up from $23.4 billion, with paid family and medical leave the fastest growing piece at 8.7 percent. The sales picture is softer. New sales premium fell from $3.2 billion to $3.0 billion, long-term disability sales dropped 6.6 percent, and paid family and medical leave sales dropped 20.3 percent, while average new-business premium per covered life rose 15.9 percent for long-term disability coverage. For employers, the survey is context for disability and statutory leave renewals.

Invesco's summer survey of 517 DC participants found interest running ahead of understanding. Asked to identify private-market asset types, participants averaged 3.4 of 5. Seventy-eight percent flagged private equity, but only 41 percent recognized commercial real estate, and 28 percent called cryptocurrency a private asset. Ninety-three percent understood the higher-fee, potentially-higher-return trade-off. What would help, participants said: clearer risk and return explanations (43 percent) and real-world examples, and 65 percent expressed interest in a target-date fund with a modest private-markets allocation. Employees may need basic explanations of these investments before choosing them.

KFF surveyed 4,688 women ages 18 to 64, and 42 percent delayed or postponed care they thought they needed in the past year because of cost (35 percent of men), 31 percent skipped recommended tests or treatments because of cost, 27 percent left a prescription unfilled, and 25 percent spent less on basic needs to afford care. Among women with employer-sponsored coverage, 38 percent report delaying or postponing care because of cost.

Thursday's Second Circuit ruling limits providers' ability to sue under the No Surprises Act to collect arbitration awards. It doesn't cancel the awards or the obligation to pay them, and regulators can still enforce payment. Thompson Hine's alert says a plan with grounds to challenge an award should review its options with counsel, and counts self-insured plans as the named responding party in roughly 68 percent of last year's disputes. The firm also recommends asking claims administrators for plan-specific arbitration results and using them in cost forecasts. On the administrative side, [Segal reports](https://www.segalco.com/consulting-insights/idr-operations-update-a-new-gateway-and-guidance-on-codes/) that registration opened September 15 for the new federal dispute-resolution portal, expected to launch late this year, and that required payment-explanation codes apply to services provided on or after January 1, 2027. Plans that outsource this work should confirm their administrator is preparing for both changes. McDermott Will & Schulte's broader survey of NSA litigation and reporting developments is [here](https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/no-surprises-act-developments-in-7201130).

Weight-loss drugs are the single largest contributor to the record increase in employer health-insurance costs expected next year, the Post reports, and the retreat has begun. PepsiCo stopped covering the drugs for non-diabetic employees; Cigna dropped them for its own workforce. In a Business Group on Health survey, two-thirds of companies still cover weight-loss drugs but 10 percent plan to stop in 2027, and a separate Marsh analysis finds 27 percent adding restrictions such as minimum BMI thresholds or a sleep apnea or cardiac diagnosis. Fully insured employers may not get a choice at all if carriers refuse to price the coverage. For workers, the difference between employers is personal: one worker now pays $450 a month for Zepbound, eating up more than a third of the $15,000 raise she received when she switched to a job that did not cover the drug. EBN's companion piece cites an estimate from digital weight-loss clinic Embla Health that employers pay $600 to $900 a month after rebates for each person taking the drugs, and actuary Amanda Turcotte offers a practical caution: supporting treatment does not have to mean paying every dollar, but switching coverage on and off each year risks hurting employees' health and morale.

A Gallagher consultant's case that the leave expansion of the last five years is due for a disciplined second look. More than 45 percent of employers now offer parental leave per a Gallagher survey, 13 states run paid programs of roughly 12 weeks, and some organizations have begun trimming durations and PTO banks under cost pressure. The argued sweet spot is four to 12 weeks of bonding time, aligned with the state programs so employer plans supplement rather than duplicate them. The adjustments offered are concrete, from one-year eligibility periods to leave taken in predictable blocks rather than intermittently, all grounded in utilization data before anything gets cut.

The 2026 Aegis Risk survey of 1,378 plan sponsors covering 1.4 million employees finds stop-loss renewal increases running from 13.6 percent at a $100,000 deductible to 15.9 percent at $750,000, roughly five points above last year's increases. The survey attributes the correction to late 2024 claim severity and leveraged trend against unchanged deductibles, and sees no easing in the 2027 cycle.

Fidelity's survey of 1,311 plan sponsors finds 41% now want their adviser to hold full discretion over the investment menu, up from 36% last year, and 89% plan to add investment options within a year. Half are weighing a replacement of their target date funds, with versions carrying embedded annuities or stable value drawing the most interest, and the help sponsors most want from advisers is on legislative and fiduciary issues.

New projections released this week put next year's employer health benefit cost increase at the highest level in more than two decades, adding pressure on plan sponsors heading into 2027 renewals and budget season.

Miller & Chevalier's September outlook starts with the continuing resolution needed to avert a partial government shutdown before fiscal 2027 begins October 1 and surveys what tax legislation could move this month.

The supply of skilled workers only continues to tighten as more reach retirement age amid rising demand, a Lightcast report said.

Employers are expecting a median 9.2% increase in medical spending next year, according to a new survey. But they’ve underestimated actual cost growth for the past three years, so even that figure may be too optimistic.

More than one-quarter of surveyed Generation Z investors said they used sports betting as part of a long-term investing strategy, according to Betterment.

Nearly half of people with an ongoing mental health condition who use large language models say they lean on AI for mental health support, per a survey EBN reports, most commonly for anxiety and depression. For benefit leaders weighing AI tools in workforce mental health programs, the vetting question is no longer hypothetical.

Mercer's quarterly state survey: Virginia enacted both paid family and medical leave and paid sick and safe leave, several states passed major PBM laws including a Tennessee statute challenged in court the day it took effect, and Alabama, Georgia, and Texas legislated on AI use in benefits.

a workforce-planning number as much as a benefits one.

the gap to watch as alts push toward DC menus.

the second consecutive year of double-digit projected trend, and the number that will anchor this fall's renewal conversations.

Thompson Hine tracks the spread of the “financial dominance” theory introduced in Barbich v. Northwestern University, in which participants challenge employer health plan design choices under ERISA, and surveys how the claims are expanding in 2026.

In a recent survey, half of plan sponsors said they seek ‘minor’ or ‘moderate’ plan design updates to improve their plan’s impact upon participants.

An NCPERS survey suggests lower-stakes experimentation with artificial intelligence is happening more quickly than strategic integration.

A Nationwide survey found that, following the past year’s market volatility, 60% of advisers are more likely to recommend guaranteed income solutions.

are making them hesitant to move forward, according to a survey.

New survey data shows the resurgence of green-zone plans, funded status trends and lessons for the future of multiemployer pensions.

Segal's survey report reveals that health plan cost trends for employer-sponsored benefits are approaching their highest levels in 15 years.

A joint EBRI / FINRA Investor Education Foundation study revealed that, even when controlling for demographic variables, positive relationships persist.

Newly released International Foundation survey data revealed key trends for glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) drug coverage for U.S. corporate employers.

and what plan sponsors can do to improve access, trust and utilization.