DC Plan Sponsors Value Advisers’ Investment Services

From investment policies to investment evaluations to the benchmarking of costs, defined contribution plans benefit when an adviser is involved, the 2025 PLANADVISER Adviser Value Survey shows.

When plan sponsors were asked what adviser service they appreciate most, the agreement was notable: 46.3% of sponsors that use an adviser selected “evaluation and monitoring of investment lineup.” This is one of the key findings of the 2025 PLANADVISER Adviser Value Survey, which, each year, aims to determine where advisers have the greatest influence on retirement plan outcomes.

By analyzing plan sponsors’ responses to the latest PLANSPONSOR Defined Contribution Survey as published in sister publication PLANSPONSOR’s 2025 DC Survey: Plan Benchmarking report, the Adviser Value Survey reveals pertinent data, relating to—along with investment lineups—plan governance, fiduciary guidance, plan design, etc.

More Investment Support

Comparing responses from sponsors that work with an adviser with those that do not, the survey found that two-thirds of plans with an adviser have a written investment policy statement, compared with just a little over one-third (36.5%) of plans without an adviser. Further, 70.7% of plan sponsors with an adviser said their IPS covers target-date funds and their underlying funds, compared with 46.7% of sponsors without an adviser. This is important to note, as TDFs are the most common qualified default investment alternative used in DC plans.

Plans with an adviser typically have regular formal reviews of investment options. Nearly half (48.5%) of advised plans have such reviews quarterly vs. 15.9% of plans without an adviser; 14.8% of advised plans have them twice a year vs. 7.4% without an adviser. Of plan sponsors with no adviser, a little over half (52.7%) reported having a formal review done annually or less frequently, and one-quarter said they are unsure how often investment options are formally reviewed.

Looking at fees—including investment fees—the survey found that more plan sponsors with an adviser externally benchmarked plan cost/fees than sponsors with no adviser (28.6% vs. 16.0%); 4.2% of the “with” sponsors said they intend to do so in the near future vs. vs. 3.8% of the “without”s.

These results and more are on the pages that follow. A report with additional findings will be available for purchase soon.