At a glance
- Stated interest in a scenario is not an election, and the near-doubling measures a choice put to survey respondents rather than a share of participants who bought a guarantee.
- Trust in the employer's plan design and the expectation of moving savings at retirement answer separate questions.
- In the study's framing, the plan's own design is the variable, not a description of an annuity in the abstract.
A legacy provision nearly doubled near-retirees' interest in an annuity in a $500,000 scenario, according to a DCIIA study conducted for Allspring.
The same study found 70% of near-retirees say they trust their employer on plan design, and 56% expect to move workplace savings at retirement.
Stated interest in a scenario is not an election, and the near-doubling measures a choice put to survey respondents rather than a share of participants who bought a guarantee. The figures do not define what the legacy provision is.
Trust in the employer's plan design and the expectation of moving savings at retirement answer separate questions. The first is a read on the plan's credibility; the second is a bet on exit behavior. Nothing in the figures ties the two together, and a plan that reads trust as a reason to widen its income menu would not know from this study how many participants use it.
In the study's framing, the plan's own design is the variable, not a description of an annuity in the abstract. A near-retiree answering a $500,000 scenario is not the same as a participant choosing at retirement, and the gap between those two moments is where election rates get decided.
Reported by the Investments desk from DCIIA study for Allspring (internal newsroom data basis). Published . Updated Oct 28, 2026 · 2:57 p.m. ET. Corrections