The Obama Administration’s desire to see greater utilization ofguaranteed income products in 401(k) plans has been evident overthe past year and a half.

This summer, on the day the White House hosted its once-a-decadeconference on aging, the Department of Labor’s Employee BenefitsSecurity Administration published a field assistance bulletinattempting to clarify 401(k) plan sponsors’ fiduciary obligationsin selecting and monitoring lifetime income products offered to401(k) participants.

The bulletin was a part of a broader initiative “designed toincrease awareness and availability of lifetime income options indefined contribution plans,” according to a fact sheet the DOLreleased accompanying the White House’s conference.

In October 2014, the Department of Treasury and the IRS issuedguidance “designed to expand the use of income annuities in 401(k)plans,” according to a release Treasury issued at the time. Thatguidance clarified that plan sponsors can include deferred incomeannuities in certain target-date funds used as qualified defaultinvestment alternatives.

In explaining the rationale behind the guidance, Treasurysuccinctly articulated annuities’ value proposition to pre-retireesand retirees as vehicles to help manage savings and ensure at leastsome of the assets accrued in 401(k) plans can be used to createregular income streams in retirement.

“As boomers approach retirement and life expectancies increase,income annuities can be an important planning tool for a secureretirement,” said J. Mark Iwry, senior advisor to the Secretary ofthe Treasury and deputy assistant secretary for retirement andhealth policy.

In the guidance green-lighting annuities in 401(k) plans, bothTreasury and Labor were sending a clear message: annuities can bean indispensable tool for improving retirees’ income security inwhat experts agree is a fundamentally insecure retirementlandscape.

One of those experts is Mark Warshawsky. A Harvard Ph.D. andretirement wonk, Warshawsky has spent his career studying thecountry’s collective retirement prospects.

In 2006, he was working at the Treasury Department and played acentral role in crafting the Pension Protection Act, whichmotivated the ascent of TDFs as sponsors’ favored QDIA option.

Earlier this year, Warshawsky published a paper testing thepotential value for immediate annuities as a retirement incomestrategy, research he’s been exploring off and on for threedecades.

“In the past, people were lucky,” Warshawsky said in aninterview. “Stock markets went up, housing prices went up,government was providing more benefits through Medicare, and peoplehad pensions. If you retired 10 or 20 years ago, you likely foundyourself in a pretty good situation.”

Retirement savers enjoy much less certainty today, he noted.

“People need to be more sharp and efficient in dealing withlongevity risk,” said Warshawsky.

His latest research compares immediate annuity strategies to theso-called Bengen rule, which calls for an annual 4 percent drawdownof 401(k) assets to adequately augment Social Security inretirement while ensuring that those savings last a lifetime.

As investors approach typical retirement age, Warashawsky’sresearch shows annuities produce higher average income three-fifthsof the time compared to the 4 percent drawdown rule.

To date, annuities have not been a fixture in 401(k) plans. ATowers Watson survey released shortly after Treasury set a coursefor annuities in TDFs showed 12 percent of large and midsizesponsors offered them in their plan. Data from the Plan SponsorCouncil of America puts the number at 8.5 percent for allplans.

The Towers survey cited lack of participant demand and sponsors’fiduciary concerns as leading obstacles.

But there are signs that regulators’ recent encouragement isstarting to take, at least in terms of addressing sponsorsfiduciary concerns.

General Motors reportedly has added annuity options for itsnearly 60,000 participants. And insurers and service providers arestepping up in response to both regulators’ encouragement ofannuities and sponsors’ fiduciary concerns over them.

The Principal Financial Group recently rolled out its PrincipalPension Builder product, which can be added to existing 401(k)menus, and gives participants the option of diverting a lump sumtransfer or future deferrals to an income-generating deferredannuity.

Jerry Patterson, senior vice president of retirement andinvestor services at The Principal, said annuities are gaining moreattention, and not just in the retail space.

“Regulators and 401(k) record keepers are looking closely at howannuities may play a bigger role in retirement security,” Pattersonsaid.

More evidence is mounting that providers are responding toTreasury and the DOL’s effort to encourage wider adoption ofin-plan annuities.

Still, roadblocks remain. A recent survey of wealth managersshowed most advisors cited retirement income distribution planningas the chief objective for investors in their 50s and 60s. Yet onlyabout a quarter of the advisors surveyed by Saybrus Partners saidthey were recommending annuity products.

Greater availability may spark increasing demand fromparticipants, but likely not without encouragement from planadvisors, who serve as the lynchpin for educating sponsors andparticipants on the emerging trends that can best provide for asecure retirement.