小橡子

过去十年的比例一直稳定:99out of every 100 U.S corporations with more than 100 employees offer some sort of retirement plan; only one does not -- and probably doesn't intend to at this point. In fact, the only companies starting up 401(k)s tend to be small ones.

Most plan providers, however, view this market with deep skepticism. They are convinced that small-business owners think of a plan start-up as an administrative burden and an unwanted expense. And the providers don't like plan economics any better than do the entrepreneurs: Until a 401(k) plan's average account balance reaches $15,000 to $40,000, it's unprofitable to run.

那么为什么令人费解401（k）s到小企业？它可以为某些患者提供商偿还。“初创公司，每个人都在投注你可以保持这种关系，直到它是有利可图的，”David Busto，审慎的退休的高级副总裁解释说，这一新兴401（k）市场。一旦计划实现了临界质量，他们的运营利润率与较大的计划相当 - 即将到来的10％，报告参数，新泽西州的咨询公司Sterling Erntling Resources。

Although many providers, especially mutual fund companies, still turn their noses up at microplans, a significant contingent, including Automatic Data Processing, Paychex and Principal Financial Group, have moved aggressively to grow their share of this niche over the past year.

这加速了持续的巩固。根据咨询公司401keXchange.com的数据，2005年，前十名提供者占所有资产的33％，占所有资产的33％，占2000年的25.3％。中型市（资产1000万美元的计划）已经经历了一席之地。十大供应商于2005年举行了51％的市场份额，2000年高于37％。

“寻找微马斯特的相同模式 - 到2010年的前十名将有50％或更多，”401kexchange.com的Fred Barstein，创始人和CEO。总体401（k）市场类似地合并，前十名提供者索取约54％的资产。

Microplan市场的市场领导者主要是保险公司：校长（第1号）;约翰汉考克（第6号）;金融合作伙伴子公司美国United Menient Insurance Co.（7号）;伟大的退休服务（8号）;全国范围内（第9号）;和哈特福德金融服务集团（第10号）。纯粹的记录人员或工资供应商构成了第二大群体，其中有Bisys退休服务（第2号），ADP（第3号）和PayChex（第4号）。唯一一家唯一一家在第5位的四大公司，是富达投资，近年来一直推动向小型企业出售工资单处理和行政服务。

Several other mutual fund companies, including AIM Investments and Massachusetts Financial Services Co., have pulled out of the small-plan market because they found the margins too skimpy or nonexistent.

Insurers fare better. Traditionally, they have been able to package investment products with higher fees than those of mutual fund firms. That is partially because insurers tend to rely more heavily on the brokerage industry to sell their products, creating the opportunity for several layers of fees.

Payroll providers, on the other hand, have electronic systems to manage 401(k) plans for small companies. And they already charge their small-employer clients for payroll and tax-paying services. Retirement plan services can conveniently and cost-effectively piggyback on payroll.

It takes $1,500 to $2,500 to set up a plain-vanilla 401(k) plan; annual costs average about $1,600 plus $30 per participant, according to Michael Callahan, a third-party administrator whose firm, Southington, Connecticutbased Pentec, administers about $3 billion in small-company retirement plan assets.

为了获得利润，共同基金公司通常需要初创计划只使用他们的专有内部资金。富达和oppeNheimerfunds - 在微普本市市场中运行的少数共同基金公司中的两家 - 各自使这一强制性。校长市场领导者表示，它索赔了2005年的10.2％的Microplan客户，Up of 2000年的8.8％。Laurel Shultz为保险公司的新兴市场董事总经理引用了两个因素来解释她公司的成功：技术 - “95所有货币交易的百分比[工资单笔扣除，投资转移和支出]是电子方式完成的“ - 其40名批发商团队。校长在401（k）S中少于37,000万美元，并管理总额110.4亿美元的Microplan资产。

The next three biggest providers -- Bisys, ADP and Paychex -- are all plan administrators that offer no investment management. ADP and Paychex are primarily in the payroll business. "We live in the micromarket," notes Anthony Tortorella, who heads sales for Paychex's retirement plan unit. "Some 85 percent of our clients are start-ups with no assets." The sole mandate of Tortorella's 240 salespeople is to sell 401(k) plans to small-business owners, most of whom already rely on Paychex to handle their payroll. In 2005, Paychex was administering 36,449 defined contribution plans -- all with assets of less than $1 million -- worth $5.9 billion.

Of the remaining top ten microplan providers, five of the six are insurers. The outlier is Fidelity, which has slipped three places from its No. 2 spot in 2000 and is striving to regain its share. In January 2005 it began selling its 401(k) services along with its payroll services. "We are just starting to get some real traction here," says Edmund Murphy, executive vice president of emerging corporate 401(k) markets. This year, he notes, Fidelity is expected to sell 500 payroll/retirement plans, up from 250 in 2004.

为保险公司提供微马马克的关键要素，但不适合大多数共同基金公司是本集团的年金合同，其达达费用。“保险公司可以要求共同基金公司加入另一个25个基金的基金在初创计划平台上列出的费用，保险公司也可以添加其他”包装“费用，”401kexchange.com的巴斯坦解释说。这些费用直接从参与者的账户中扣除。根据Barstein的说法，计划的参与者通常支付多达300个费用的费用。“预计投资表现很难掩盖，并为投资者留下更多，”他指出。

Barstein和其他人认为，小组年金合同可以是非常不透明的。“透明度是旁观者的眼睛，”伯克特的Callahan柜台，其客户包括提供组年度合同的保险公司。第三方管理人员辩称，劳动部所要求的年度申请 - 5500形式 - 明确列出了与参与者资产的所有费用，并识别了收款人。包裹费用对于销售退休计划的经纪人至关重要。

“我不会在资产少于100万美元的计划中只需要25个基点，”Joseph最友好，一位统一的退休计划专家，该计划是在明尼苏达州Minnetonka，并为大约45美元的计划提供约45美元的计划在联合资产中。“考虑一下：25个账户的基点，余额为25,000美元，年度赔偿金额为62.50美元。”

Wachovia Retirement Services, which administers $70 billion in defined contribution assets from about 5,000 clients, prices its services with a variation on the group annuity fee. "We have a wrap fee that is asset-based, but it declines from 100 basis points for start-ups down to 10 basis points," explains Joseph Ready, who heads Wachovia's retirement group. That fee is posted on participants' statements, he adds.

“我们将这个市场视为一个真正的机会，部分原因是我们认为我们可以利用我们的银行网络为小雇主提供服务，”他说。

Ready and his colleagues are on track to increase Wachovia's small-plan assets by one third this year, to $530 million, up from about $400 million at the end of 2005. That kind of growth explains why some providers continue to think small.