More eligible employees are participating in 401(k) plans but only a small percentage will be financially ready for retirement, according to Deloitte Consulting’s 2005-2006 Annual (401) Benchmark Survey. The poll of 830 plan sponsors found that the number of firms with more than 70% participation climbed from 63% to 67%, and those with 90% participation rose from 19% to 24%. A troubling finding, however, is that 20% feel that “very few” of plan participants will be prepared for retirement and 65% saying “some” employees are retirement ready. Worse, only 13% of plan sponsors questioned believe that most employees are or will be financially prepared for retirement. Deloitte’s Leslie Smith called the lack of preparedness “alarming,” and urged employers to find ways to get their workers to make preparing for retirement a priority.
