2016 SPARK Journal_4th Quarter

www.sparkusa.org 1
The
SPARKJournal
A Quarterly Journal for the Retirement Plan Industry
VOL. 26 NO. 4 FOURTH QUARTER 2016
C O V E R S T O R Y
The More They Know: When
Participants Understand Auto Features,
Satisfaction and Outcomes Improve
Srinivas Reddy, CFA, Prudential Retirement
SPARK

2 www.sparkinstitute.org
100 Matawan Road Suite 330 | Matawan, NJ 07747 | Phone: 888.242.4682 | Fax: 908.349.3449 | www.enterpriseiron.com
Facing the Headache of Manual Client OnBoarding? Having Data Issues?
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for both Plan Sponsor and Plan Provider
RecordKeeper via a bi-lateral data
exchange including certification and pre-
edit processes
• Significantly improve client experience by
reducing the interaction points, simplifying
the process and reducing overall time to
market
• Increase Straight Thru Processing (STP)
for Remittances and reduce Not-In-Good-
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Client Experience
Cost Quality
Risk
Issues:
• Building new relationships
• Custom requests, feeds, reporting and carryover
from prior Record Keeper
Mandates:
• Seamless transitions
• Reduction in transition cycle time
• Oﬀer simplicity
Issues:
• Opportunity cost
• Reduce Recordkeeping costs
• High consumption of most valuable resources
Mandates:
• Reduce process variation
• Reduce Recordkeeping expenses
• Year Over Year reduction in Operating expenses
Issues:
• Data accuracy
• Poor data may not manifest for years
• Translate plan documents into admin rules
Mandates:
• Reduce iterations of ﬁle testing
• Improve data quality at the source
• Zero defects at conversion
Issues:
• Data reconciliation and validation
• Client readiness for conversion
• Implementing new regulations
Mandates:
• Zero tolerance for Compliance fails
• Speed to implement vs. accuracy
• Data Quality
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INSIDE THIS ISSUE
The SPARK Journal is published quarterly by The SPARK Institute, Inc.
9 Phelps Lane, Simsbury, CT 06070, 860-658-5058.
© 2016 The SPARK Journal and The SPARK Institute, Inc.
All rights reserved.
8
3 Executive Director’s Message
Tim Rouse, The SPARK Institute, Inc.
4 COVER STORY
The More They Know: When
Participants Understand Auto Features,
Satisfaction and Outcomes Improve
Srinivas Reddy, CFA, Prudential Retirement
8 Consultant’s Corner
Data Driven Participant Engagement
Peter Cesario, Jr., Chris Eassa, Caitlin O’Connor,
Lynda Shaw, Julie West, Envisage Information Systems
11 Washington Update
Agencies Propose Major Changes to 5500 Reporting
Michael Kreps, Groom Law Group
George M. Sepsakos, Groom Law Group
14 Research Commentary
Financial Wellness and Retirement Readiness:
Insights from OneAmerica Participant Research
Marsha Whitehead, OneAmerica Companies
18 The SPARK Institute Perspective
Policymakers Eye “Pokemon GO” Approach for
Missing Participants
Michael Hadley, Davis & Harman LLP
Adam McMahon, Davis & Harman LLP
24 SPARK Member Profile
Ralph Ferraro, Lincoln Financial Group
29 Spark Certifications
14
4
11

4 www.sparkinstitute.org2 www.sparkinstitute.org

www.sparkusa.org 3
Plan design has come a long way since the Pension Protection
Act was passed 10 years ago, so it is especially timely that our
cover story addresses ways in which we can enhance and build
upon the beneficial features of the original law. Srinivas Reddy,
Senior Vice President at Prudential Retirement,
makes the case that, despite the widespread adoption
of auto enrollment and use of target date funds that
were facilitated by the Act, improvements in plan
design can and should be made. He suggests that
more plan sponsors adopt re-enrollment of existing
employees to complement the auto enrollment of
new workers. Based on the company’s research, he
notes that once they are familiar with auto features,
participants recognize their value in helping achieve
retirement savings goals and tend to have higher
deferral rates. Srinivas also urges the use of a
guaranteed lifetime income solution as part of a
default investment.
In our “Consultant’s Corner” commentary, a team from
Envisage Information Systems outlines a proposal for
improving participant engagement through data aggregation of
all their finances – including retirement plans. They note that
a connected financial network would include information on
more than just retirement plans. Adding banking, insurance and
healthcare data creates a holistic financial picture. This access
to financial data would make planning, saving, implementing
and tracking retirement at all levels easier.
Continuing the theme of financial wellness and retirement
readiness, Marsha Whitehead, Vice President of Marketing
for Retirement Services at the OneAmerica Companies,
delves into the company’s recent participant survey in a
“Research Commentary” to discuss the need for expanded
participant education efforts. Despite years of work by
plan sponsors and providers to educate participants on a
variety of retirement and investing issues, the level of self-
reported knowledge on many issues was low. She notes, for
example, that knowledge about such things as the taxation
of Social Security benefits, the Savers Tax Credit and
retirement account withdrawals all scored at the bottom.
Marsha outlines specific areas for improvement that can help
employees get control of their financial lives and focus on
preparing for retirement.
In their “Washington Update,” Michael Kreps and George
Sepsakos of the Groom Law Group discuss the major changes
to Form 5500 recently proposed by the DOL, IRS and PBGC.
Theystressthattheproposedrevisionsareexceptionallycomplex
and, if adopted, will require plan administrators,
record keepers and custodians to collect more
information and devote more resources than ever
before. In particular, they note that record keepers
may need to improve technology systems to collect
more data and potentially add to staff to answer
compliance questions from clients.
Policymakers’ efforts to locate missing retirement
plan participants and reduce the number of
abandoned retirement accounts are the focus of
“The SPARK Institute Perspective” in this issue.
Michael Hadley and Adam McMahon of Davis
& Harman LLP discuss a Senate bill that calls for
a national retirement savings lost and found registry where
participants and beneficiaries could go to search for benefits
owed to them. They also outline the PBGC’s work on
expanding a missing participant program for DB plans to cover
participants in terminated DC plans.
Our “Member Profile” in this issue features Ralph Ferraro,
Senior Vice President and Head of Product for Retirement
Plan Services at Lincoln Financial Group. The fact that
Ralph was a star running back at Princeton University comes
as no surprise considering the way he has successfully moved
through a variety of technology, consulting and retirement
product positions during his career. The flexibility and sense
of team play that he displayed on the football field served him
well in business. After 12 years at Prudential Financial in a
variety of product positions, he joined American Management
Systems as a consultant managing a large individual annuity
and DC plan provider. In 1998 he joined the Copeland
Companies (then part of Travelers) and over the next
18 years went through four transitions as Travelers merged with
Citigroup and then became CitiStreet which was acquired by
ING in 2008, subsequently becoming Voya Financial. Ralph
joined Lincoln Financial this past April in his current position.
I am sure you will find both the business and personal aspects
of his story interesting.
E x e c u t i v e D i r e c t o r ’ s
M e s s a g e
Tim Rouse
Executive Director
The SPARK Institute, Inc.

The More They Know: When Participants Understand
Auto Features, Satisfaction and Outcomes Improve
Srinivas Reddy, CFA
Senior Vice President
Institutional Income
Prudential Retirement
COVER STORY
Plan design has come a long way in the 10 years since the Pension Protection Act (PPA) of 2006
was enacted, but there is still more work to be done, particularly when it comes to re-enrollment and
adoption of guaranteed lifetime income solutions. And the stakes are high. A recent survey by Prudential
Retirement1 found that 8 out of 10 participants intend to rely on their workplace retirement plan as a
source of retirement income – more than any other source, including Social Security.
____________________________________
1 Prudential Proprietary Research, 2015 Defined Contribution Research Report.

www.sparkusa.org 5
The good news is that when participants are educated on
and exposed to automatic features and guaranteed lifetime
income solutions, plan satisfaction and outcomes are
elevatedaccordingly,asPrudential’srecentsurveyfound.The
PPA was a linchpin in enabling DC plans to be designed so
they could work to counter participants’ natural biases and
behaviors, which we know can hurt their retirement savings.
It included a number of provisions that strengthened the
defined contribution plan structure, including safe harbors
that allowed employers to automatically enroll participants
into a plan and automatically increase their contributions
on a pre-determined formula and schedule (auto escalation)
to keep their contributions to the plan growing over time.
Workers still have the opportunity to opt out or elect a
different contribution rate, but must take action to do so.
Participants have a natural tendency to defer actions such
as enrolling and (once enrolled) increasing their contributions.
Plan designs that implement automatic enrollment and
automatic contribution escalation can counter these
tendencies. At the same time, the creation of QDIAs has
allowed plans to default participants into target-date funds
(TDFs), thus helping to counter improper diversification by
putting participants into TDFs aligned to their retirement
timeline. And indeed, 86 percent of plans that use QDIAs are
using TDFs.2
Recent figures indicate that 61 percent of plan sponsors
currently offer automatic enrollment and four out of five
of those also auto-escalate.3 This is a 221 percent increase
from the 19 percent of 401(k) plans that offered automatic
enrollment in 2005, one year prior to the enactment of the
PPA.4
While plan design has come a long way, improvements
can still be made, and indeed, are necessary. One of the issues
often cited as holding plan sponsors back from incorporating
automatic features is the fear of participant backlash due to
perceived loss of control. But often lost in the discussion are
the participants’ voices. What do they want? Are participants
generally in favor of automatic plan design features? Do they
see auto solutions as helping them achieve their retirement
savings goals?
At Prudential, we wanted to find out and so we designed
a survey to ask participants how they felt about plan
design features such as auto enrollment, auto escalation,
and guaranteed lifetime income solutions. We surveyed
more than 1,000 DC plan participants on a variety of
record keeping platforms, and the findings have important
implications for plan sponsors and advisors.
We discovered in our survey that when participants are
familiar with automatic features, they consider them a very
important plan design feature in helping them to save for
retirement. The key, we found, is familiarity. That is, when
participants have experience with or understand how auto
features work, they tend to favor them.
____________________________________
2 Callan 2016 DC Trends Report.
3 Ibid.
4 Aon Hewitt, 2011, Hot Topics in Retirement and Trends and Experience in 401(k) Plan Survey.
VERY
FAMILIAR
SLIGHTLY/NOT
FAMILIAR AT ALL
SOMEWHAT
FAMILIAR
77%
41%
23%
The likelihood that participants would
use guaranteed lifetime income solutions
based on their familiarity with them.
FAMILIARITY GENERATES ADOPTION

The More They Know: When Participants Understand
Auto Features, Satisfaction and Outcomes Improve
COVER STORY
For example, while 44 percent of all participants
considered auto enrollment very important, nearly three
quarters of those who were familiar with it felt the same.
And while 39 percent of all participants overall considered
re-enrollment very important, that figure jumped 61 percent
with familiarity, to 63 percent of participants.
This is good news, particularly when it comes to
re-enrollment. The number of plan sponsors re-enrolling
all employees is still small. Of those that offer automatic
enrollment, just 45 percent enroll employees on a
retrospective basis, meaning they enroll all who are eligible,
not just those who are newly eligible. Auto enrollment
without re-enrollment does not address the inertia of longer
term employees who may have been with the employer since
before auto enrollment was instituted. Greater adoption of
re-enrollment will help all employees, not just the newly
eligible. Getting plans that have adopted autos to switch to
versions of these features that result in more inclusivity, such
as re-enrollment, will help further improve participation and
savings rates.
Crucially, we found that once familiar with auto features,
participants see them driving better saving and investing
behaviors – a good thing, since nearly half of participants
said they were worried about meeting retirement savings
goals. Compared to all participants surveyed, about 20
percent more of those who are very familiar with auto
enrollment said that it helps participants achieve a financially
secure retirement, ensures employees are putting money into
their retirement plan and investing it the right way, and
helps employees pay attention to and monitor their progress
toward retirement goals.
Additionally, we found that auto enrollment and auto
escalation track with better outcomes. Auto escalation can
be particularly important in helping employees save at a
high enough rate to meet their retirement goals. This is
of particular concern considering more than 60 percent of
participants in our survey were contributing less than 10
percent of their income to their plans, well below the 15
percent rate recommended by the Defined Contribution
Investment Association of America.
Plan satisfaction and participant contribution rates alike
were higher among participants who had access to and
experience with automatic features. Participants who had
experience with auto enrollment contributed, at the median,
10 percent of their pay to their plan, 30 percent more
than those without experience. We also discovered that
Millennials, though notoriously conservative when it comes
to investing, were the most enthusiastic about auto features
of any age group, boding well for their continued and
increased acceptance.
Total No With
Experience Experience
47%
42%
54%
8% 7%
10%
Current Contribution Rate
Median Percentage
Overall Plan Satisfaction
% Highly Satisfied (8-10 Rating)
Total No With
Experience Experience
Experience with auto enrollment tracks with better outcomes

www.sparkusa.org 7
AMONG VERY AMONG WITH
FAMILIAR EXPERIENCE
TOTAL WITH GLI WITH GLI
They achieve better than average
retirement outcomes 34% 54% 62%
They achieve similar retirement
outcomes as the average employee 25% 27% 29%
They achieve below average
retirement outcomes 13% 10% 4%
Not sure 28% 9% 5%
Majority of participants familiar with guaranteed lifetime
income (GLI) say it creates above-average retirement outcomes
Participants who have had experience with either auto
enrollment or auto escalation contribute, at the median, 43
percent more of their pay to their retirement plan than those
without that experience. In addition, we found that concern
about the affordability of auto escalation is not widespread.
Among those who were offered auto escalation but never used
it or opted out, only 25 percent cited lack of affordability as a
reason. Instead, the most common reason given was wanting
to make decisions independently/not needing the feature,
a rationale that can be partially countered by educating
participants that they retain the right to change their increase
rate. Finally, we also found that although guaranteed income
solutions are significantly less well known and less used than
auto enrollment among plan participants, more than three-
quarters of those who are familiar consider it very important
to include them in workplace retirement plans. In fact, a
majority of plan participants who understand guaranteed
income solutions say being defaulted into them (as part of
a QDIA) leads to better-than-average retirement outcomes.
familiar with them, and only five percent could confirm they
used them.
If we could sum up our research findings in one sentence,
the takeaway would be this: When participants are educated
on and exposed to automatic features and guaranteed
lifetime income solutions, plan satisfaction and outcomes
are elevated accordingly. This suggests that there are several
ways plan sponsors can collaborate with intermediaries and
product providers to better meet participant needs and
expectations and continue the good work that began 10
years ago with the PPA:
• Make greater use of auto enrollment and auto
escalation, and pair them with guaranteed lifetime
income solutions that are part of a default investment
• Reframethedefaultdebatetocounterthemisconception
that auto features equate to a loss of control
• Make re-enrollment a feature of best-practice plan
design as a means of helping both new and existing
employees
• Generate increased awareness of diversified asset
allocation strategies that incorporate a guaranteed
lifetime income solution.
For more on the results of Prudential’s study and to read
the full paper, “The Ease of Automation and Guaranteed
Lifetime Income,” visit http://research.prudential.com.
Indeed, it seems that one of the main reasons participants
don’t make much use of guaranteed income solutions today
is that few have access to them. Only about a third were
If we could sum up our research findings in one sentence,
the takeaway would be this: When participants are
educated on and exposed to automatic features and
guaranteed lifetime income solutions, plan satisfaction
and outcomes are elevated accordingly.

Data is integral to every aspect of retirement. The plan sponsor, the advisor,
the record keeper, and the participants themselves all require timely access
to accurate, up-to-date participant, plan and investment data to successfully
service participants toward retirement. The retirement industry is armed
with more data than ever before thanks to technology that can transfer vast
amounts of data at increasingly rapid speeds.
C O N S U LTA N T ’ S C O R N E R

www.sparkusa.org 9
Data Aggregation
Dataisexpectedinstantlyandholistically
with the ability to be accessed anywhere
from any device. If you look at the shift
in the way organizations outside of the
financial services industry are engaging
their customers, it should come as no
surprise to stakeholders in the financial
industry that they should also expect to be
a part of the new data driven revolution.
To effectively advance the retirement
industry, participant data must be
available, portable and mobile. There
must be a communication network with
a unified back end system that allows
for all business groups in the industry to
speak to each other – trading transfers,
enrollments, rollovers to name a few would
all be accessible. Establishing an ATM-like
system for the retirement industry would
mean that a Millennial, by retirement,
could feasibly have a singular view of all
retirement programs they have been a part
of throughout their professional career.
This connected financial network
would be inclusive of more than just
the retirement industry. It would
include participant banking, insurance
and healthcare information. Including the
financial information from these sectors,
in addition to retirement, provides a
holistic financial picture that would help
the retirement industry better service the
participant.
Creating this financial network’s unified
back end systems would provide structure
and simplicity, which could translate into
increasing participant engagement and
would provide increased interoperability.
Such large scale unprecedented access
to financial data would make planning,
saving, implementing and tracking
retirement at all levels easier. Data flow in
a unified financial network would provide
data that is not only comprehensive, but
strategic.
Millennials’financialassetsareprojected
to grow from $1.4 trillion in 2015 to $11.3
trillion in 2030, a compound annual
growth rate of nearly 15 percent.1 At the
same time, however, the four biggest bank
brands are among the “least loved” brands
by Millennials today. Millennials have
emerged into adulthood with low levels of
social trust. In response to a long-standing
social science survey question, “Generally
speaking, would you say that most people
can be trusted or that you can’t be too
careful in dealing with people,” just 19%
of Millennials say most people can be
trusted, as compared to 40% of Baby
Boomers. (Source: Pew Research).
The Millennial generation does not
simply trust someone because they
are deemed an expert. With a unified
financial network, however, an institution
would have the opportunity to not
only understand a participant’s holistic
financial picture, but share that back
to them – to be able to make the best
financial decisions and then explain why.
That level of understanding would go a
long way in building trust, which in turn
could result in a far greater piece of that
$11.3 trillion invested in financial assets.
Inanindustrywhereverylittleseparates
competitors, record keepers and financial
institutions will need to look at innovative
ways to differentiate themselves. The
Peter Cesario, Jr.
Business Analyst
Chris Eassa
Business Analyst
Caitlin O’Connor
Business Development
Specialist
Lynda Shaw
Business Development
Specialist
Julie West
Business Analyst
To successfully engage
participants, the financial
industry must embrace the
many opportunities that a
data-driven revolution offers.
_________________
1 “The Future of Wealth in the United States,” Deloitte University Press, November 2015.
Envisage Information Systems

Millennial generation who expect this
type of data to be aggregated in a single
place will be more prone to invest assets
with a participating entity.
Participant Engagement
To successfully engage participants, the
financial industry must embrace the many
opportunities that a data-driven revolution
offers. We must be able to effectively
send targeted messages and relevant
information to participants. Meaningful
conversations with a participant are made
difficult when a participant’s financial
picture includes only name, date of birth,
gender, and contribution levels. We need
to access a participant’s comprehensive
financial picture to understand what they
need now, 10 years from now, 25 years
from now, and beyond.
If we could link the retirement industry’s
back end systems to create a connected
financial network, we would have the
ability to aggregate a rich series of data
points for every participant: loans, credit
card debt, insurance, banking, mortgages,
etc. With meaningful data points, we can
look at a book of business, identify, and
then strategically service financial profiles
by segment. For example:
Paycheck-to-paycheck spenders:They
contribute the minimum to their
employer-sponsored retirement plan,
or not at all. Looking at their holistic
financial picture, does this participant
have credit card debt? High student loan
payments? Not saving at all? Offer these
participants access to a financial education
course. We can build their trust while
improving their financial savvy.
Early savers: They likely have many
large purchases to make before retirement:
car, home, paying off college loans. This
group could appropriately benefit from
personal guidance about making the
immediate purchases while not forgetting
about retirement goals.
Mature savers: They have been
saving for a while and likely have assets
spread in many places: cars, vacation
homes, retirement accounts. They are
informed but now may need assistance
with a strategy going forward and how to
prioritize and effectively leverage assets.
Transition planners: Retirement is
not far off for them, and they need to
know that their financials will align
with their retirement goals and needs.
This includes not only projections, but
approaches to consider that will help fill
in any potential gaps.
Retirees: They need help monitoring
their savings, making sure that
unplanned healthcare or other events
can still be amply covered, etc. Part of
this monitoring of their “spend-down”
of assets will include a gut-check of their
comfort level as well.
The ability to access data in a
connected financial network provides
advisors and record keepers with not only
insights, but opportunity for improved
operational processes. Algorithms could
be tailored to send communications to
specific participant segments for updates
or educational sessions. Additionally,
automated plan features such as auto
enroll and auto save could be utilized
more efficiently and effectively by
targeting participants based on this
holistic financial picture.
Thinkabouttherelationshipsanadvisor
or financial service entity could build with
clients if you could congratulate them on
paying off credit card debt or a student
loan, packaged with marketing materials
focused on retirement savings.
With the impending fiduciary
regulations, it is also pragmatic to
pursue improved data access in our
industry. Financial advisors will need
to prove what is best for their client –
something that is made much easier
if an advisor has access to more than
4-5 data points per participant. It is
rapidly becoming more apparent that a
connected financial network would not
just be helpful, but essential.
The utilization of technology and
data will position financial institutions
to implement focused approaches to
assist current and future savers alike. The
approach of looking at a participant’s
financial health holistically and targeting
strategies based on this view is more
important now than it ever has been.
Individuals must take control of their
retirement savings. Gone are the days
of relying on traditional defined benefit
plans. Accumulating a large retirement
balance with one employer has also
become a thing of the past.The staggering
number of Baby Boomers who are not
prepared to retire comfortably should
be an indication that solely putting the
onus on the individual is not today’s
solution. Incorporating automated
technologies based on data which is
readily available will allow current
and future participants to collaborate
with financial partners to ensure their
financial needs are effectively met.
C O N S U LTA N T ’ S C O R N E R
The ability to access data
in a connected financial
network provides advisors
and record keepers with
not only insights, but
opportunity for improved
operational processes.

Washington
UpdateWashington
Update
Agencies Propose Major Changes
to 5500 Reporting
Michael Kreps
Principal, Groom Law Group
George M. Sepsakos
Associate, Groom Law Group
On Monday, July 11, 2016, the Department of Labor
(“DOL”), the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”), and the
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (“PBGC”) (collectively,
the “Agencies”) proposed substantial revisions to the forms
and regulations governing the Form 5500 annual reporting
process for employee benefit plans (“Proposed Revisions”).
These Proposed Revisions, if implemented, would be the most
significant overhaul of the Form 5500 since the Agencies’ last
Form 5500 update, effective with the 2009 plan year (the
“2009 Update”).
The Proposed Revisions would affect employee pension and
welfare benefit plans, plan sponsors, administrators, and service
providers to plans (including record keepers and trustees)
subject to annual reporting requirements under the Employee
Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”) and the Internal
Revenue Code (“Code”). If adopted on schedule, the revised
reporting requirements would generally apply to plan years
beginning on or after January 1, 2019. We discuss some of the
key changes and their effect on record keepers below.
A. Executive Summary
The Proposed Revisions greatly expand the scope of
information captured by the Form 5500 for nearly every
type of employee benefit plan, including defined benefit
plans, defined contribution plans, large and small group
health plans, and ESOPs. The Proposed Revisions are
exceptionally complex and it is clear that plan administrators,
record keepers and custodians will need to collect more data
and devote more resources than before to file a complete
These Proposed Revisions, if
implemented, would be the most
significant overhaul of the Form 5500
since the Agencies’ last Form 5500
update, effective with the 2009 plan
year (the “2009 Update”).

Form 5500 if these changes are adopted. It is clear that plan
sponsors will look to their recordkeeping partners to assist
them in meeting these new reporting challenges.
Some of the takeaways from the Agencies’ proposals include:
• The Proposed Revisions make clear that the Agencies
are increasingly relying on the Form 5500 as a key
component of their enforcement efforts.
• The Agencies are seeking more information related to the
plan’s investments. They are expanding the Schedule H
categories of plan assets to reflect new asset categories
and sub-categories, intended to more closely reflect the
variety of alternative and complex investments held by
plans.
• The Agencies are attempting to harmonize the fee
disclosure requirements (Schedule C) with the disclosure
regime under ERISA section 408(b)(2) that applies to
ERISA pension plans. As a result, the rules regarding the
reporting of “indirect compensation” earned by service
providers have been simplified and made more consistent
with information already required to be disclosed under
DOL’s 408(b)(2) regulations.
We describe these changes in more detail in the remainder
of this column.
B. Changes to Schedule H (Financial Information)
The Proposed Revisions would retain the asset/liability and
income/expense structure currently in place in Parts I and
II of Schedule H. However, the balance sheet component
of Schedule H would be modified to include additional
categories and sub-categories of assets.The Agencies intend to
improve transparency for the current “other” categories which
plans have been using to cover a wide variety of unspecified
assets and are proposing to change the way alternative
investments, hard-to-value assets, and investments through
collective investment vehicles are reported. The Agencies
believe these changes are necessary due to the changing
nature of plan investments, particularly the increased use of
sophisticated and complex investments that do not fit neatly
into any of the existing reporting categories.
Specifically, the Proposed Revisions include the following
changes:
• The Proposed Revisions would add new categories for
“derivatives” and “foreign investments.” In addition,
new sub-categories would be added to the existing
“Partnership/Joint Venture Interests” category to
separately delineate the value of a plan’s investment
in “limited partnerships,” “venture capital operating
companies,” “private equity,” “hedge funds,” and “other
partnership/joint venture interests.”
• The Proposed Revisions would require additional
reporting of assets held through self-directed brokerage
accounts.
• The Proposed Revisions would add new sub-categories to
the “Administrative Expenses” category of the “Income
and Expenses” section of Schedule H to capture amounts
paid for salaries, audit fees, recordkeeping fees, trustee
and custodial fees, actuarial fees, legal fees, valuation
fees, and trustee expenses, including travel and meetings
(regardless of whether taxable). Further, new lines would
require the plan administrator to specify how plan
expenses were allocated to the plan, meaning whether
expenses were paid by the plan directly or charged against
participant accounts.
C. Changes to Schedule H, Line 4i Schedules of
Assets
The Proposed Revisions include structural, data element,
and instructional changes to the Form’s schedules of assets
(currently the “Schedule of Assets Held for Investment
at End of Year” and “Schedule of Assets Acquired and
Disposed Within Year”), which are filed by plans and by
certain DFEs. The Proposed Revisions would retain the
two separate schedules of assets but would change the
existing “Schedule of Assets Acquired and Disposed of
Within Year” to a “Schedule of Assets Disposed of During
the Plan Year.” According to the Agencies, the change
would capture information about alternative investments
and hard-to-value assets purchased in one year and sold in
The Proposed Revisions would retain the asset/
liability and income/expense structure currently in
place in Parts I and II of Schedule H. However,
the balance sheet component of Schedule H would
be modified to include additional categories and
sub-categories of assets.
washington
Updatewashington
Update

the middle of a subsequent year that is not captured by the
current schedules.
D. Schedule C – Service Provider Information
In a helpful change, Schedule C (used to report service
provider information), has been rewritten to more
closely align with the disclosure requirements for service
providers under ERISA section 408(b)(2). In the 2009
Update, the Agencies completely revised Schedule C,
adopting complicated new rules for the reporting of
“indirect” compensation. The Schedule C rules for indirect
compensation reporting were so complex that the DOL
ultimately issued over 60 FAQs to assist Schedule C filers.
For the most part, the revised Schedule C significantly
reduces the complexity of indirect compensation reporting,
but it has created some new challenges as well. Some of the
key changes to Schedule C are as follows:
plan investments). This is consistent with the section
408(b)(2) disclosure rules that require record keepers to
provide cost estimates.
• While prior versions of Schedule C allowed for reporting
of indirect compensation as a formula, formulaic
reporting would no longer be an option. Schedule C
would continue to require filers to identify certain payers
of indirect compensation consistent with the section
408(b)(2) disclosure rules. However, the new Schedule
C would require the reporting of a specific dollar
amount (or an estimate) paid by each payer of indirect
compensation. If finalized, this requirement would be
particularly challenging for record keepers who currently
report much indirect compensation in the form of a
formula (e.g., mutual fund revenue sharing payments).
E. Financial Transaction Reporting Changes
on Schedule G
To improve the uniformity and reporting of investment
and financial transaction information, the Agencies have
proposed changes to Schedule G, which reports information
on loans, fixed income obligations, leases in default or
uncollectible, and nonexempt prohibited transactions. The
revised Schedule G would collect additional information
about plans’ transactions and relationships, especially
nonexempt prohibited transactions. Regarding prohibited
transactions, new boxes would be added to indicate the
specific type of transaction involved, such as whether it
involves a purchase or sale of property, an exchange of
property, a lease, extension of credit, or a furnishing of goods
to or from the plan.
F. Effect on Record Keepers
If finalized, record keepers will need to devote a significant
number of resources in order to comply with the changes.
In this respect, we would expect that record keepers would
be one of the primary business partners that plan sponsors
would rely upon to assist them comply with the massive
changes. This may require record keepers to improve IT
systems to collect more data and potentially employ a greater
number of staff members to answer compliance questions
from clients. We expect that these changes will force record
keepers who offer Form 5500 preparation assistance as an
accommodation to reevaluate whether continuing to do so
makes sense in light of the burden and potential liability
associated with the Proposed Revisions.
We also expect that the changes to record keeper’s reporting
of indirect compensation will require that record keepers
devote significant resources to comply with the Agencies
Proposed Revisions surrounding the reporting of indirect
compensation. These changes are truly massive and will
require a great deal of analysis and consideration prior to the
Agencies proposed implementation on January 1, 2019.
In a helpful change, Schedule C (used to
report service provider information), has
been rewritten to more closely align with the
disclosure requirements for service providers
under ERISA section 408(b)(2).
• Schedule C would require the reporting of indirect
compensation information only for “covered service
providers” within the meaning of DOL’s section
408(b)(2) regulations, and the instructions have been
harmonized to more closely track the section 408(b)
(2) regulation. This change alone will have a dramatic
impact on the number of entities required to be reflected
on the Schedule C and the scope of materials that must
be reviewed in order to complete the Schedule C.
• Schedule C would retain the requirement to report
service providers that earn more than $5,000 in direct
compensation from the plan.
• Service providers to welfare plans would be reported only
if they earned more than $5,000 in direct compensation
from the plan.
• The alternative reporting rules for “eligible indirect
compensation” (i.e., a simplified reporting method for
float, commissions, soft dollars, fees charged against
funds and other forms of indirect compensation) would
be eliminated.
• Schedule C would include a new line asking if the
arrangement includes recordkeeping services
without explicit compensation for such services or
where compensation has been offset based on other
compensation received by the provider (such as from

Financial Wellness and
Retirement Readiness:
InsightsfromOneAmerica®
Participant Research
R E S E A R C H C O M M E N TA R Y
Marsha Whitehead
Vice President of Marketing for Retirement Services
OneAmerica

www.sparkusa.org 15
OneAmerica regularly provides plan sponsors and
advisors with insights to connect with plan participants
and provide effective communications to drive positive
retirement outcomes. We frequently seek feedback and
solicit input, both in person and through virtual channels.
Our newest participant survey, which resulted in more
than 10,500 respondents, queried participants about their
attitudes and behaviors toward preparing for retirement and
their levels of knowledge about various personal finance
topics. We asked participants to share their thoughts and
insights about:
The frequency of monitoring and the importance of
understanding progress toward retirement goals
Triggers for attention to retirement planning
Plan features that are important and encourage
retirement planning
Factors that are most likely to delay retirement
Knowledge level about specific financial topics
Incidence of hardship withdrawals and loans
Interest in receiving regular retirement planning
communications and the preferred channels
For this survey we worked with Peter Dunn, also known
as Pete the Planner®, to review the results and explore ways
for plan sponsors to better serve their participants in a
variety of demographics. Based on the survey findings, we
have provided suggestions for ways plan sponsors can better
engage with their employees to help them become more
retirement ready.
A need for more education
We asked participants to self-report their levels of
financial knowledge of common personal finance and
retirement topics. Those topics ran the gamut: growing
your retirement account; using the power of compounding
with contributions; understanding the consequences of
taking a loan or withdrawal on a retirement account;
assessing how taxation on benefits will impact Social
Security. Across the board, the level of self-reported
knowledge on these topics was low.
Even people who are actively engaged with retirement
planning were admittedly in dire need of education about
financial topics. The survey data tell us that even as we’ve
made retirement readiness easier to understand through
the availability of online calculators and helpful videos,
we can still do a better job at making participants more
knowledgeable.
To illustrate the point, student loan debt – cited by experts
as a common barrier to saving for retirement, particularly
among Millennials – is perhaps the most well-known
financial topic, yet in the survey, only 4 in 10 admitted to
fully understanding it.
Self-reported knowledge on such things as taxation on
Social Security benefits, the Savers Tax Credit and retirement
account withdrawals all scored in the bottom, a key indicator
of weaknesses that should be addressed. Plan sponsors need
to understand and act on these weaknesses.
What is encouraging is participants across the board
indicated they would like to receive more information
and education about these topics. Plan sponsors have
an opportunity to engage participants by expanding
communications beyond basic retirement messages and
addressing personal finance topics, such as student loans,
compounding and how retirement income is generated.
The survey data tell us that even as
we’ve made retirement readiness easier
to understand through the availability
of online calculators and helpful videos,
we can still do a better job at making
participants more knowledgeable.

Target messages to make the most of
communications
We analyzed the survey results by gender and age, and
we saw workers have clear preferences based on these
demographics.
Differences between genders
Regarding gender in retirement planning, our survey
revealed men thought about retirement more often than
women; 69 percent of men reported thinking about it
at least monthly, compared to 55 percent of women.
Men also reported talking about retirement frequently
with work colleagues and believing they were more
educated about tools needed to prosper in their golden
years. In the most dramatic example of the difference
between the sexes, men self-scored themselves as having
a significantly higher level of knowledge than women
across the personal finance and retirement topics,
including student loans and taxation on Social Security
benefits.
We’ve known for quite some time that men and women
don’t just think about retirement differently, they also talk
about it differently. By understanding these differences, plan
sponsors can tailor their education programs to increase the
influence they have on male and female participants.
Two substantial differences in past triggers were evident.
Men were more likely to discuss retirement with work
colleagues (29 percent) compared to women (22 percent)
and to cite a story in the news or media (16 percent vs. 11
percent of women) about retirement.
The results also showed some similarities between
genders. When it comes to retirement plan features, men
and women both placed the highest priority on a common
workplace perk – an employer match on the employee’s
contribution to the retirement plan being offered. It was
ranked No. 1 by both sexes, although women were more
likely to place higher importance on the employer match
(64 percent vs. 61 percent of men), while men were more
likely to place importance on investment options (29
percent vs. 21 percent of women).
What is clear is that men and women display clear
differences in how they think about and prepare for
retirement. Plan sponsors should consider developing
participant communication and education programs that
cater to the specific interests and preferences of each gender.
For example, plan sponsors could share a news story
about retirement planning with their male population,
because men are more likely to be influenced by news stories
in the media. Alternatively, educational communications
that are tied to significant life events – such as marriages,
births, divorces – may be more influential and effective for
women.
R E S E A R C H C O M M E N TA R Y
Financial Wellness and Retirement Readiness
Generational preferences
The survey results show age-specific strategies, rather
than a one-size-fits-all approach, may be the most effective
method for plan sponsors to address retirement readiness;
the survey illustrated the difference between Millennials in
the workforce and those closer to the end of their careers.
Not surprisingly, we found frequency of retirement
thought clearly increases throughout life, with a particularly
steep increase between participants 35-49 years old and
those 50 years or older. Twenty-three percent of men
and women younger than 35 years considered it weekly,
compared to 27 percent of those 35-49 and 45 percent of
those 50 and beyond.
What is clear is that men and women
display clear differences in how they think
about and prepare for retirement.

www.sparkusa.org 17
The survey also showed that younger participants
were more open to “new and interactive” types of
communication and engagement. Participants younger
than 35 are almost two times as likely to welcome text
message notifications than respondents age 50 and older.
Plan sponsors should consider facilitating a “friends
and family discussion” by providing materials that help
introduce topics and guide the conversation, especially for
the youngest age group, due to the influential nature of
so-called water cooler chats.
Plan sponsors can build upon their communication
approach by going beyond merely offering retirement
benefits to their employees; employers should actively
promote the advantages of signing up – a task that
becomes progressively more difficult as their workforce ages.
Employer promotion of the retirement plan is most effective
at spurring those younger than 35 (40 percent), followed by
35- to 49-year-olds (32 percent) and lastly those aged 50
and older (32 percent).
The older participants get, the less effective workplace
promotion of retirement benefits is. It’s imperative that
plan sponsors and financial professionals get involved early.
They need to think of themselves as a trusted resource
for their employees – particularly those younger than
35. They have an opportunity for an influential role that
includes guidance, retirement education, communications
and resources to promote financial wellness. They can be
advocates.
For employees 35 and older, plan sponsors should consider
tying communications to other, more influential retirement
thought triggers. For example, sending information to
participants’ homes, where friends and family are more
likely to see the communications and have discussions about
them, may be an effective way to leave an impression on
older employees.
Plan sponsors may also want to educate participants
about how certain plan features can affect retirement
outcomes. Participants may not be placing importance
on certain plan features because they don’t understand
the role those features play in affecting their retirement
income. Given American workers’ lack of financial
knowledge, communication is especially important.
Misunderstanding how time plays into retirement
preparation is an irreversible problem. Lost time is
worse than lost money. Participants can earn more
money, but they cannot earn back more time. Without
compounding, $100 cannot transform into $800 over
time with moderate returns, for example.
Based on these survey results and our experience in
the retirement industry, we believe by providing not only
retirement education, but also comprehensive financial
wellness education, plan sponsors and financial professionals
can help employees get control of their financial lives,
address immediately pressing financial concerns and focus
on preparing for retirement.
Note: OneAmerica is the marketing name for the
companies of OneAmerica. Products issued and underwritten
by American United Life Insurance Company® (AUL), a
OneAmerica company. Administrative and recordkeeping
servicesprovidedbyMcCreadyandKeene,Inc.orOneAmerica
Retirement Services LLC, companies of OneAmerica which
are not broker/dealers or investment advisors.
Participants may not be placing
importance on certain plan features
because they don’t understand the role
those features play in affecting their
retirement income.

Michael Hadley
Partner, Davis & Harman LLP
Counsel to The SPARK Institute, Inc.
The SPARK Institute PERSPECTIVE
Policymakers Eye “Pokemon GO” Approach
for Missing Participants
O
ver the summer, Pokemon GO captivated the curiosity
of millions of Americans who became addicted
to the popular cellphone game that tells devoted
players that they “gotta catch ‘em all.” This mantra seems, at
times, how the industry feels about missing retirement plan
participants. Policymakers are starting to notice. Over the past
year, a wave of legislative and regulatory activity has focused
on locating missing participants and dealing with cashed out
and abandoned retirement accounts. We are taking a break
this quarter from the fiduciary rule to bring you up to speed
on those efforts, intended to reduce the number of participants
that lose contact with their retirement benefits.
Senate Bill Calls for National Retirement Savings
Lost and Found Registry
To help reduce the number of missing participants,
Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Steve Daines
(R-MT) recently introduced a bill – the Retirement
Savings Lost and Found Act of 2016 (S. 3078) – that
would create a national online registry where retirement
Adam McMahon
Associate
Davis & Harman LLP
plan participants and beneficiaries could go to search for
retirement benefits owed to them. The Warren-Daines
legislation and a companion bill introduced in the House
of Representatives, follow recommendations offered by a
2014 United States Government Accountability Office
(GAO) report. That GAO report, requested by Warren and
now-retired Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), recommended the
creation of a national registry to help reduce the “forgotten

www.sparkusa.org 19
Over the past year, a wave of legislative and
regulatory activity has focused on locating
missing participants and dealing with cashed
out and abandoned retirement accounts.
accounts, missing participants, and ultimately lost retirement
savings,” that result from “workplace mobility and frequent
changes in corporate structure[s].” As proposed, the new
Retirement Savings Lost and Found would be a joint effort
between the Treasury Department and the Social Security
Administration and would require enhanced reporting by
plan administrators.
In addition to creating a missing participant database, the
legislation also includes a number of provisions aimed at
changing the rules governing automatic cash outs of small
retirement plan account balances. Under current law, a
plan may generally cash out a participant who terminates
employment if the value of his or her benefit does not
exceed $5,000. If the cash out amount exceeds $1,000
and the participant does not elect otherwise, the cashed out
amount must be rolled over into an IRA established in the
participant’s name. Pursuant to a Department of Labor
(DOL) safe harbor, the assets cashed out to an employer-
other words, these very small accounts would escheat to the
federal government.
Beyond the Retirement Savings Lost and Found Act,
Members of Congress are also considering new approaches that
could help avoid the problem of missing participants altogether.
Last fall, a group of eleven congressional Democrats led by
Ranking Member of the Senate HELP Committee Senator
Patty Murray (D-WA) and Ranking Member of the House
Education and the Workforce Committee Congressman
Bobby Scott (D-VA) sent a letter to Secretary of Labor Tom
Perez urging him to issue guidance that would “address plan
leakage, facilitate portability, and promote the consolidation of
small retirement accounts.” Although the letter did not specify
how Secretary Perez should accomplish those objectives, the
letter did contemplate the creation of a new system that would
facilitate “automatic portability.” Under the arrangement
described in the letter, automatic retirement plan cash outs
of less than $5,000 would first be transferred to a safe harbor
account and then transferred to the retirement plan account of
the affected individual’s new employer.
PBGC Working on Missing Participant Program
for Defined Contribution Plans
Other parts of the federal government have also been
tasked with “catching ‘em all.” Currently, the Pension
Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) operates a missing
participant program for terminated single employer defined
benefit plans unable to locate missing participants who are
owed a benefit. Under that program, the PBGC accepts
benefits owed to missing participants and lists identifying
information regarding those missing participants on a
searchable online registry made available to the public.
In the Pension Protection Act of 2006, Congress directed
the PBGC to expand its missing participant program to
terminated defined contribution plans, like terminated
401(k) plans. PBGC has proceeded at a very slow pace
to implement this directive. In 2013, the PBGC issued a
Request for Information seeking public input on a number
of topics, including the extent of the demand for such a
program, the demand for a database of missing participants,
selected IRA are typically invested in a product that seeks to
maintain a dollar value that is equal to the amount invested
in the product, like a money market fund or an interest-
bearing FDIC-insured bank account.
The Warren-Daines bill raises the threshold dollar amount
for cash outs from $5,000 to $6,000 and requires regulatory
guidance permitting such amounts to be invested in a target
date or life cycle fund. In addition, in a significant change
from current law, if a participant does not claim his or her
benefits within six months of being notified of an impending
cash out, amounts less than $1,000 would be distributed
either to the Director of the Retirement Lost and Found or
to an IRA established by Treasury (presumably a myRA). In

The SPARK Institute PERSPECTIVE
the availability of private-sector missing participant services,
potential program costs and fees, electronic filing, and the
contours of diligent search requirements.
PBGC has been reticent to publicly discuss the specific
details of its expected program. However, comments from
PBGC officials, including Director Thomas Reeder, have
indicated that the missing participant program for defined
contribution plans is currently a top PBGC priority. A
proposed regulation was sent to the White House’s Office
of Management and Budget on July 21 for review, with
expected release prior to the end of the year.
SPARK has also been closely reviewing a very significant
proposal to overhaul the Form 5500 released by DOL,
IRS, and PBGC in July. More to come on this proposal,
but we will just note here that among the dozens of
significant changes, the proposed Form 5500 revisions
include changes that will affect the reporting of missing
participants. The proposal specifically seeks to add a
question asking whether, as part of the procedures for
a terminating plan, the plan transferred plan assets to
interest-bearing federally-insured bank accounts in the
name of missing participants. If the answer is “yes,” the
filer would be required to provide the name and EIN of the
financial institution, the date the assets were transferred to
the institution, the number of accounts established, and
the total amount transferred.
Given the depth of the proposed Form 5500 changes
and, in recognition of the fact that most firms responsible
for filing Form 5500 are currently working hard to prepare
the 2015 reports and to implement DOL’s fiduciary rule,
SPARK spearheaded a joint letter requesting a 90-day
extension to the Form 5500 comment deadline. SPARK
was joined in the extension request by the Investment
Company Institute (ICI), the American Benefits Council
(ABC), and the Plan Sponsor Council of America (PSCA).
SPARK has also been closely reviewing a very
significant proposal to overhaul the Form 5500
released by DOL, IRS, and PBGC in July.
Form 5500 Reporting of Missing Participants
Missing participants also flared up this year during
the Form 5500 filing season. For many years, Lines
4l of Schedule H and I (Financial Information) and
Line 10f of Form 5500-SF have asked: “[h]as the plan
failed to provide any benefit when due under the plan?”
This apparently straightforward and innocuous question
created uncertainty when a change to the 2015 instructions
suggested the question should be answered “yes” for unpaid
required minimum distribution payments (RMDs) for
missing participants. We weighed in with regulators on this
problem, and are happy to report that the Internal Revenue
Service (IRS) recently issued guidance clarifying that filers
do not need to report unpaid RMDs on Lines 4l and 10f
for participants who have retired or separated from service
who cannot be located after reasonable efforts or where the
plan is in the process of engaging in reasonable efforts to
locate them. But IRS used the guidance to remind plan
sponsors of their obligation to make these efforts to locate
participants who are missing.
SPARK spearheaded a joint letter requesting
a 90-day extension to the Form 5500
comment deadline.
Conclusion
Long after Pokemon GO is no longer in the public
consciousness, plan sponsors and the SPARK members that
support them will still be focused on “catching ‘em all.” In
the meantime, however, it is clear that policymakers have
pegged missing participants and cash outs as a significant
retirement policy priority.
Policymakers Eye “Pokemon GO” Approach for Missing Participants

www.sparkusa.org 21
Stay competitive and meet client demands
BenefitsPRO.com gives you the latest retirement strategies and advice from industry experts, critical compliance
updates and information on all types of plans including 401(k), 403(b) and defined benefits.
Become a member and get unlimited access to BenefitsPRO content, including educational webcasts and videos,
informative enewsletters and form 5500 data found on FreeERISA.
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ENTERPRISE
IRON
Smart data that speaks to your markets
SOLUTIONS FROM
C O N G R U E N T
CORE
educating policy makers about the benefits of the employer-based
retirement system, and developing practical solutions, best practices
and standards for the efficient delivery of retirement plan services
and benefits through the workplace. Our members play a key role in
identifying our priorities and in developing our positions.
Current Initiatives
Some of our current initiatives include:
Educating legislators, regulators and the media about the
important and substantial benefits of employer-sponsored
retirement plans.
Addressing the challenge of improving the retirement readiness of
many American workers.
Working with members and the Employee Benefit Research
Institute to create a comprehensive database of information on
the U.S. employer plan market.
Developing standardized audit guidelines for Form 5500 filings.
Who We Are
The SPARK Institute is a member-driven, non-profit
organization that is the leading voice in Washington for the
retirement plan industry. We help shape national retirement
policy by developing and advancing positions on critical issues
that affect plan sponsors, participants, service providers, and
investment providers. Our members include record keepers,
mutual fund companies, brokerage firms, insurance companies,
banks, consultants, trade clearing firms and investment managers.
Collectively, our members serve approximately 83 million
participants in 401(k) and other defined contribution plans.
What We Do
The SPARK Institute plays a critical role in the retirement plan
community by promoting widely supported positions among a
diverse group of member companies and by developing practical
and balanced solutions on important employer-based retirement
plan issues. Our important initiatives include informing and
SPARK Institute Advisory Board Member Companies

www.sparkusa.org 23
Contacts
For membership information or questions, please contact:
Tim Rouse Marlene Jung
Executive Director COO, CFO
(508) 838-1919 (860) 658-5058
tim@sparkinstitute.org marlene@sparkinstitute.orgMember Benefits
Help shape the direction of the Institute through our
Board of Directors, Government Relations Committee
and task forces.
Best Practices and Other Industry Standards
The SPARK Institute develops and maintains best practices and
industry standards, including:
A retirement plan industry glossary of investment terms for
participant disclosures.
Remittance and census data elements for 403(b) and other
retirement plans.
Data layouts for lifetime income solutions in retirement plans.
Data layouts for sharing non-registered investment product
disclosure information.
An RFP Guide for plan sponsors covering the Corporate, Tax
Exempt, Government and Taft-Hartley markets.
Meet and network with senior business leaders and key
decision makers at SPARK Institute Board meetings.
Receive regular updates on critical industry issues.
Other benefits include complimentary conference
registrations, SPARK Institute publications, member surveys
and more.

Ralph Ferraro
S PA R K M e m b e r P r o f i l e
Growing up in a working class family in
Ridgefield Park, NJ, Ralph Ferraro learned early on
the value of hard work and a good education. By the
time he was seven years old, he was putting together
cardboard pastry boxes at his father’s bakery. By age
11, he was helping make cannolis. Later, he pumped
gas, cleaned gutters and hauled garbage for the town
public works department. “I had lots of jobs that
made me appreciate my education. At the same time,
I was fortunate to have a father and mother who
were role models for hard work,” he says. “I was the
second oldest of four children and was fortunate to
grow up in a great family atmosphere.”
Ralph Ferraro
Senior Vice President, Head of Product
Retirement Plan Services
Lincoln Financial Group
A football and track-and-field star
in high school, Ralph was recruited by
Princeton University, where he continued
his sports career – setting three school
records as a running back, one of which
stood for 30 years. After graduating with
a Bachelor of Arts degree in history,
he joined a management development
program at Prudential Financial, where
he had interned during college.
A Foundation in Insurance,
Investments and Technology
During his 12 years at Prudential,
Ralph held managerial roles for a variety
of insurance and investment products.
He learned about technology “on
the job, on the fly” and parlayed that
experience into his final assignment
leading the technology teams that
supported investment portfolio managers
and traders. While at Prudential, he
also obtained a Master of Business
Administration degree in finance from
Seton Hall University.
Ralph’s entry into the retirement
business came in 1996 when he joined
American Management Systems, a
business and technology consulting firm.

www.sparkusa.org 25
“Our research tells us that
participants truly value in-
person meetings as the best
way to motivate them to
save more, which is the key
to a successful and dignified
retirement.”
He served as the on-site manager for
one of the company’s largest clients,
an individual annuity and defined
contribution provider. “My role as a
consultant meant I was responsible not
only for satisfying the needs of the client,
but also for generating revenue. So there
definitely was an entrepreneurial aspect.”
But, much as he appreciates the role
of consultants, after two-and-a-half years
he was ready for a change. “No offence
to consultants, but I wanted to be back
on the client side. Probably going back
to my athletic days, I enjoy being part
of a team.”
Experience in a Changing
Retirement Industry
In 1998, Ralph joined what was
then the Copeland Companies (part of
the Travelers Group) as vice president
of information technology for the
retirement services division. Within
three months, the company merged with
Citigroup. Then came CitiSreet LLC, a
multi-national joint venture of Citigroup
and State Street Bank. CitiStreet was
acquired by ING in 2008, and ING has
since become Voya Financial, Inc.
“Having gone through four name
changes in the course of an 18-year
career, I’ve learned to adapt, to be flexible
and to see other perspectives,” he reflects.
“Change is constant and I’m fortunate
to have had success through all of the
changes I’ve encountered. For me, one
of the primary lessons is to check your
ego at the door if you’re entering a
new organization or the organization has
changed. You first have to want to be part
of a team before you’re asked to lead a
portion of that team.”
While at CitiStreet, Ralph was
chief information officer for one of
the retirement services divisions from
2001 – 2006. As such, he managed the
development and operations of a defined
contribution recordkeeping platform
that administered over 12,000 plans for
more than 1.2 million participants and
$17.5 billion in assets. He next served as
executive vice president of the division
and managed P&L for multiple market
segments that had $42 billion in assets
under administration.
When ING (now Voya) acquired
CitiStreet in 2008, Ralph became head
of product for the small/mid corporate
retirement market, which included the
$37 billion stable value business and a
unique outsourced relationship with the
American Bar Association that delivered
marketing, sales and administration of
a custom defined contribution benefits
program to law firms. Responsible
for profitability, he headed a team of
95 employees and oversaw a book of
business that increased operating
earnings in excess of 14 percent on a
year-over-year basis from 2012 to 2014.
“I’m also proud that I was able to mentor
and coach my team to develop in their
careers and move up to larger roles in the
organization.”
Executing Lincoln’s Strategic
Vision
In April 2016, Ralph joined Lincoln
Financial Group’s Retirement Plan
Services (RPS) as head of product,
executing on the strategic vision of
the business and ensuring the effective
implementation and integration
of specific plan initiatives. He also
manages RPS’s suite of products and
provides thought leadership to drive the
development of new products as well as
enhance existing products. “What I like
about my job is the balance between
improving the services we provide
to working Americans today with
envisioning and planning for innovative
products down the road that will engage
participants even more and put them on
a path to a secure retirement.”
Ralph was attracted to Lincoln by its
strong business profile. A Fortune 250
company and financial services leader,
it serves approximately 1.4 million
retirement plan participants through
22,000 plan sponsors with $55 billion
in assets as of June 30, 2016. He also
liked its optimistic, collegial culture and
customer focus. Lincoln’s current ad
campaign about the social responsibility
of love matches the atmosphere he’s
found at the company.
A focus on the customer is reflected in
Lincoln’s high-touch service model that
Ralph says is a unique value proposition
in the marketplace. “Our research tells
us that participants truly value in-person
meetings as the best way to motivate
them to save more, which is the key to a
successful and dignified retirement. One-
on-one meetings also help them translate
these savings into retirement income.
We find that the more personalized the
interaction – the more it deals with
individual circumstances – the better able
we are to craft a meaningful solution that
will resonate with the participant.”

S PA R K M e m b e r P r o f i l e – Ralph Ferraro
Lincoln Financial Group
Built on Abraham Lincoln’s ideals of courage, strength and optimism, Lincoln Financial Group’s Retirement
Plan Services has been a proven provider of retirement solutions for over 60 years, managing thousands
of retirement plans that enroll millions of participants in organizations of all sizes in the small-business,
corporate, healthcare, education and nonprofit sectors. As thought leaders, we are committed to offering
our partners a broad array of retirement plan solutions to meet their needs. Lincoln Financial Group is
the marketing name for Lincoln National Corporation (NYSE:LNC) and its affiliates. With headquarters
in the Philadelphia region, the companies of Lincoln Financial Group had assets under management of
$223 billion as of June 30, 2016.
Besides Lincoln’s 105 retirement
consultants who develop long-term,
personalized relationships through
meetings with employees at their work
sites, online and by phone, Lincoln’s
participant website features engaging and
motivating technology aimed at driving
positive outcomes. “This balance, which
we refer to as an omni-channel approach,
means we can reach our customers when
they’re ready to take action, wherever and
whenever that is.”
Under Ralph’s leadership, Lincoln is
making innovations to its long-standing
stable value offering and, earlier this year,
rolled out enhancements to its Lincoln
Director retirement plan program
for small businesses. “The enhanced
Lincoln Director program includes a
broad investment universe of revenue-
neutral funds typically available only to
large institutional plans,” says Ralph.
“Very important is that the product is
quite transparent about fees and offers
a level fee structure, making it easy for
advisors, small business owners and their
participants to understand the cost of
their retirement plan, which is especially
important given the new Department of
Labor fiduciary regulations.”
Hand-in-hand with Lincoln’s partici-
pant focus is a focus on the needs
of plan sponsors that includes helping
them manage their workforces so their
employees can achieve their retirement
goals. “Some studies indicate a number
of people think they are going to have to
work beyond retirement age. Working
with employers, we want to address
this issue and help get participants on
a track to retire at the age they would
like, rather than feeling they have to
work longer,” he says. “One of the ways
we do that is by helping plan sponsors
design retirement plan offerings with
best practices that facilitate increased
savings levels, which help drive positive
outcomes.
“At the end of the day, how prepared a
participant will be for retirement has a lot
to do with best practices. It is important
for plan sponsors to establish a strong
savings program that puts an employee
on the right path from the time they
enter the workforce. It is also important
to continue to reach out to employees
through a high-touch model and provide
ongoing education that reinforces the
importance of saving throughout their
working careers.”
On the Personal Side
Ralph and his wife, Veronica, live
in Villanova, PA, and have four grown
children and two grandchildren. One
reason Ralph joined Lincoln was to move
from Boston, where he had lived for 10
years, back to the New Jersey area so he
could be near his extended family. Most
of his free time is focused on his family,
which often gathers to enjoy the beach in
Avalon, NJ.
For relaxation, Ralph enjoys playing
golf. “I try to fit it in on weekends. For
those four hours or so, it’s a great way
to stop thinking about work by just
focusing on trying to hit that little white
ball. It takes a lot of concentration.”
Hand-in-hand with
Lincoln’s participant focus
is a focus on the needs of
plan sponsors that includes
helping them manage
their workforces so their
employees can achieve their
retirement goals.

www.sparkusa.org 27
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BenefitsLink.com, Inc. | 1298 Minnesota Avenue, Suite H | Winter Park, Florida 32789
407.644.4146 | info@benefitslink.com
Compliance • Trends • Jobs • Webcasts • Industry News

ADVANCE YOUR CAREER WITH A
S PA R K D E S I G N AT I O N
The SPARK Institute can
help retirement industry
professionals further their
careers through our two
professional designations:
The SPARK Accredited Retirement Plan Consultant (ARPC) designation is awarded
to sales and marketing professionals who have met the eligibility requirements and
successfully completed an examination.
The SPARK Accredited Retirement Plan Specialist (ARPS) designation is earned
by administrative and recordkeeping professionals who have demonstrated their
proficiency in plan operations by completing the required coursework and exams.
Benefits of Certification
A SPARK designation:
Verifies knowledge Signifies professionalism
Enhances credibility Demonstrates proficiency
In addition to the knowledge and skills gained through SPARK’s professional designation
programs, earning a SPARK designation also provides:
The right to publish the designation on business cards, stationery and other
professional documents
Verification of the designation on the SPARK websites
Discounted registration fees for SPARK’s two annual conferences
Electronic semi-annual updates to the program materials
A subscription to the quarterly SPARK Journal
For more information about the SPARK Designation Programs, go to the
SPARK Education Center at http://sparkeducationcenter.netdimensions.com or contact:
Rachael Ryan
Education Director
Phone: 860-658-5027 Email: rachael@sparkinstitute.org

www.sparkusa.org 29
New SPARK Accreditations
Spark certifications
Congratulations to the following individuals who recently earned a SPARK industry designation. Since they were introduced
in 2004, the SPARK Accredited Retirement Plan Consultant (ARPC) sales and marketing designation and/or the SPARK
Accredited Retirement Plan Specialist (ARPS) recordkeeping and administrative designation have been awarded to over 1,800
industry professionals. These programs are developed by The SPARK Institute, Inc. in partnership with the SPARK Education
Committee and the SPARK Certification Committee. For more information about the SPARK training and designation programs,
visit the SPARK Education Center (www.sparkeducationcenter.com) or contact Rachael Ryan at rachael@sparkinstitute.org.
We applaud the following individuals on their professional accomplishments:
For a list of those individuals who have earned a SPARK designation and have elected to have their accomplishments posted online,
go to sparkeducationcenter.netdimensions.com or sparkusa.org/accreditation.php.
November 8-9, 2016 Advisory Board Meeting The Breakers, Palm Beach, FL
February 27 - March 1, 2017 Executive Summit Belmond Charleston Place, Charleston, SC
May 30-31, 2017 Advisory Board Meeting Gaylord National, Washington, DC
The SPARK Institute
FUTURE sPARK CONFERENCES
Brent Bradshaw, ARPC
BB&T
Carissa Fischer, ARPC
Paychex
James Baker, ARPC
First National Bank
Loretta Besson, ARPC
Associated Pension
Richard Michalko, ARPC
Empower Retirement
Stephen Scott, ARPC
Ascensus
Daniel Sharkey, ARPS
Voya
2017 SPARK National Conference
June 1-2, 2017
Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center,
Washington, DC
2017 SPARK Forum
November 5-7, 2017
The Breakers, Palm Beach, Florida
2016 SPARK Forum
November 6-8, 2016, Palm Beach, FL

Take part in SPARK ConferencesThe retirement services industry’s leading events for the nation’s top marketing, sales, administration and
recordkeeping professionals. Attendees include representatives from national banks, insurance companies,
mutual fund complexes, investment firms, third party administrators, benefit consulting organizations
and financial advisory firms. We are now taking reservations for sponsorships, exhibits and speakers.
Who Should Sponsor/Exhibit?
The SPARK Conferences are the perfect venue for any
company that provides products and services to the
retirement services market. Among the organizations that
choose the conferences to support their marketing efforts
through sponsorships or exhibits are:
Mutual funds & other investment management
organizations
Recordkeeping service providers
Communications and printing firms
Systems and technology companies
Consulting firms
Education and training companies
Trust companies
Outsourcing organizations
Rollover service providers
Benefits of Participation
The SPARK Conferences will provide opportunities for you to:
Increase your industry profile
Enhance your brand and product awareness
Promote your products and services to new prospects
Introduce new products and services
Network with industry leaders
Meet with key industry media representatives
Increase your professional knowledge
Attendee Profile
By taking an active, visible role as a sponsor or exhibitor
at the SPARK Conferences, you’ll have access to the
top retirement industry executives, managers and other
professionals who attend the conferences, including:
Retirement business presidents
Investment advisors and managers
TPA owners and managers
Fund company managers
403(b) service providers
Recordkeeping administrators
Sales and marketing executives and managers
Product development executives
Government affairs representatives
Legal, risk management and compliance professionals
Call Now for Details!
Please call Marlene Jung at
860-658-5058
for information about sponsorships,
exhibits and speaking opportunities.
November 6-8
THE BREAKERS
PALM BEACH, FL
Retirement Industry Conference
2016 SPARK
Forum
2016 SPARK
Forum
Retirement Industry Conference
2017 SPARK
NATIONAL CONFERENCE
June 1-2 Washington, DC
Gaylord National Resort

2016 SPARK Journal_4th Quarter

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