• Their estimated retirement monthly income or the shortfall based on a 70% retirement income replacement rate Voya has factored into its system.
If they like, however, participants can shift their retirement income goal to whatever they prefer, says Christine Lange, Voya’s head of digital strategy. Using the sliders alongside the shaded dollar they see on the screen, employees can also see how changes in the contribution rate, their retirement age and their estimated rate of return will impact their monthly check.
The proof is in the pudding. When the 10 retirement plans had Voya Financial’s myOrangeMoney digital platform up and running on their plan Web sites for several weeks, 20 percent of employees increased their retirement plan savings rate an average of 38 percent.
At a time when the average 401(k) plan savings rate hovers around 7 percent of pay, Voya was able to shift average contribution rates at the plans in question from 6.5 percent to 8.2 percent of salary when participants chose percentage rate contributions, and from $276 to $427 per pay period when participants shifted their salary deferrals in dollar amounts, says Lange.
The pilot program has now gone live, she adds, noting that as of August 28, in fact, Voya has “turned on” the platform for all 46,000 of its plan sponsor record-keeping clients and their 5 million participants.
Such platforms should also help advisors, since clients enrolled in such plans should have a better idea of what they will have in their retirement years.
With an IPO in its rearview mirror, ING U.S. has continued the process of rebranding into Voya Financial over the past year after separating from ING Group in Amsterdam.
Beams says the single largest change in the retirement space over the past 18 months is the plan sponsor community’s increasing interest in quantitative retirement “outcomes” that can benefit participants years in the future.