People in the finance and insurance industries are more aggressive
in planning and saving for retirement than those in other fields, according to Vanguard's 10th annual "How America Saves" report.
Employees of larger finance and insurance companies
who participated in 401(k)s or other defined contribution plans administered by Vanguard
in 2010 also had higher average account balances than their counterparts at smaller
finance and insurance companies, according to the report.
The report looked at data covering more than 3 million plan participants.
"Finance and insurance [participation rates] were
above average," said Bill Doughty, senior manager of Vanguard Strategic Retirement Consulting Group. "They are above the Vanguard
benchmark, which is good."
Finance and insurance companies were also among the leading industries when it came to offering target date funds, Doughty said.
Larger insurance and finance firms were well above the benchmarks identified in the Vanguard data, Doughty said.
"They understand the savings philosophy; they get it, and they're putting the target date funds in their lineup."
The reason for the insurance and finance industries' strong retirement planning performance, Doughty said,
is that money management and investment are their bread and butter.
"They're professionals-they're dealing with other people's assets all the time," Doughty said. "I am sure that they are very savvy and want to make sure that they're taking advantage of retirement plan design."