Screaming headlines of dubious reports purporting that 401(k) plan participants raiding their retirement savings are au courant these days.

But a Bank of America Merrill Lynch study suggests an opposite trend, and the fact that Merrill's retirement plan management encompasses 2.5 million total plan participants and plan assets of $98.1 billion gives weight to the study's quite upbeat conclusion: that 2012 was a model year and that Americans are fortifying their retirement readiness.

Kevin Crain"Of all participants in their retirement plans taking an action, we like to measure how many are taking positive actions and how many negative actions," said Kevin Crain (right), head of institutional retirement and benefit services for Bank of America Merrill Lynch, in an interview with AdvisorOne.

Continue Reading for Free

Register and gain access to:

  • Breaking benefits news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical converage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.