Savings Plus prides itself on maintaining lower fees. To ensure the Plans’ overall economic competitiveness remains as time passes, and as part of its fiduciary responsibilities on behalf of the state and state employees, Savings Plus partners with its defined contribution consultants to monitor and evaluate investment options and overall plan fees. At our request, RVK, Inc. conducted a Total Plan Costs Benchmarking survey that incorporates peer data for calendar year 2016. The survey addresses Savings Plus’s costs in the following categories:

• Recordkeeping and administration
• Internal staffing
• Professional services
• Investment management
• Custodial/trustee management

The peer group for the survey included twenty public plans of similar structure and size to Savings Plus – i.e. 401(k) and 457(b) Plans, $1 billion - $25 billion in assets, and a minimum of 25,000 participants. The twenty plans represented fifteen states and six record-keepers.

While Savings Plus is a large and complex plan with unique characteristics and approach to plan management, five of the survey respondents, like Savings Plus, hold $10 billion or more in assets and seven of the plan respondents serve more than 200,000 participants.

Please review the CY 2016 Total Plan Cost Benchmarking Analysis executive summary to see how Savings Plus compares to its peers.

We partnered with CEM Benchmarking to compare the costs of our investment options with other defined contribution plans. The peer group for this survey included 137 defined contribution plans, 112 corporate plans, and 25 public plans.

Please review the 2020 CEM DC Benchmarking Survey to see how our investment management fees compared to other defined contribution plans.

We will continue to evaluate our approach, service offerings, and fees based on survey results and industry best practices. It is our goal to help prepare the employees of the State of California to achieve and enjoy a comfortable retirement through education and an integrated service offering at a relatively low cost.