Joe Sixpack Trusts His Employer

Joe Sixpack Trusts His Employer

By Allison Bell

Most U.S. workers trust their employers and hope their employers can help them get through these turbulent times.

Thats the conclusion of a recent survey sponsored by CIGNA Corp., Philadelphia.

Researchers from KRC Research, Washington, asked 750 401(k) plan participants about recent efforts by the Bush administration to create Employer Retirement Savings Accounts.

Only 45% of the respondents said they would trust the government to manage the accounts, but 76% said they would trust their employers.

The researchers also found that 75% of the workers would trust individualized retirement planning advice from their employers. Seventy-one percent would trust specific investment advice from their employers.

Fear of lawsuits now discourages employers from offering employees specific investment advice.

Employers cant tell workers which way the market is heading. But employers might be able to increase the confidence of the 47% of workers who say they fail to invest the maximum amount simply because they feel confused, apathetic or convinced that their situation is futile, CIGNA says.

Reproduced from National Underwriter Edition, April 7, 2003. Copyright 2003 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved. Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.