Washington, D.C., August 26, 2014 – Judy Diamond Associates, the 401(k) plan intelligence provider of leading financial advisors, brokers and fund companies, today released an analysis of the worst states in which to have a 401(k) plan, revealing that Nevada has the highest concentration of its participants in low performing plans.
“Workers in the states with the highest concentration of participants in low scoring plans are, statistically, disadvantaged compared to workers in other states when it comes to achieving positive retirement outcomes,” said Eric Ryles, Managing Director of Judy Diamond Associates. “While individual companies can of course buck this trend, the data shows that the average participant of a plan for a Nevada-based company will have a more difficult time meeting their retirement goals than the average participant of a plan for a California-based employer.”
A state’s place in the ranking was determined by the percentage of all participants in each state that were part of 401(k) plans receiving low Plan Scores based on their most recent Department of Labor filings. Judy Diamond Associates calculates Plan Scores with an exclusive algorithm that considers key measures of the strength of a plan’s design, management and performance, as well as how each of those metrics compares to nationwide benchmarks. Plan scores are available in Retirement Plan Prospector, Judy Diamond Associates’ 401(k) analysis and lead generation database. Plans receive scores up to 100 based on information they report to the Department of Labor annually. For the purposes of this study, plans with a score below 50 (on a scale of 1-100) were considered “low.”
Some interesting highlights from the research include:
- Arkansas had the lowest rate of participants in low scoring plans, 15.0%. Nevada had the highest concentration of participants in low scoring plans, with 80.6% in plans receiving scores less than 50.
- No state had a majority of its participants in high scoring plans, though Delaware came closest with 43.3% of participants in high scoring plans, or plans with scores of 75 or higher.
- Among the five largest states by plan participants, Pennsylvania had the lowest concentration of participants in high scoring plans, 5.9%, and the second highest concentration of participants in low scoring plans, 40.1%. The other four largest states by plan participants were California, Illinois, New York and Texas.
The nine states with the majority of their 401(k) plan participants in low scoring plans are:
| Rank | State | % of Participants in Low Score Plans |
| 1 | Nevada | 80.6% |
| 2 | Florida | 63.2% |
| 3 | Louisiana | 57.3% |
| 4 | Kentucky | 55.7% |
| 5 | Rhode Island | 54.2% |
| 6 | North Dakota | 53.9% |
| 7 | Idaho | 53.0% |
| 8 | Maine | 51.2% |
| 9 | Maryland | 50.8% |
Judy Diamond Associates based this research on the most recently available 401(k) plan disclosure documents, from either 2012 or 2013, released by the Department of Labor, which are available in its Retirement Plan Prospector database. Retirement Plan Prospector is an intuitive and comprehensive online sales prospecting and plan analysis tool, providing insights to the defined contribution and defined benefits markets.
For more information about this research, please contact us at www.judydiamond.com/about/contact or follow us on Twitter @401kFacts.
Media Contact
Regina Marie Glick
646-746-8878
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Sales Contact
Eric Ryles
202-370-4811
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