BrightScope Announces the Top 25 Charlotte Area-Based Companies With the Best 401k Plans
Marketwired
SAN DIEGO, CA--(Marketwired - May 27, 2014) - BrightScope (www.brightscope.com), a leading provider of independent financial information and investment research, today announced the Top 25 companies in the Charlotte area with the highest ranked 401k plans containing more than $50 million in assets.
"There are several newcomers to this year's list, each contributing to an increase in the average BrightScope Rating of Charlotte's Top 25 plans from 76.8 in our previous release to over 80 today," said Brooks Herman, Head of Data & Research at BrightScope. "It's apparent Charlotte-area companies are following the national trend of improving their options for employees to help them become more financially secure."
Noteworthy findings in the 2014 Top 25 Charlotte 401k Plans list include:
Robinson, Bradshaw & Hinson, P.A. reigns as No.1, moving up from No. 3 when the list was last issued in 2012
Greatest Leap: Ingersoll-Rand Company leapt 12 spots to No. 12, up from No. 25 in 2012
Warm Welcome: Newcomers to the list include Duke Energy Corporation (No. 11), Piedmont HealthCare, P.A. (No. 15), Florida Progress Corporation (No. 16), Resolute FP US Inc. (No. 19), Babcock and Wilcox Investment Company (No. 22) and Daramic, LLC (No. 24)
It is Back: Nucor Corporation re-joined the list at No. 20, having fallen off in 2012
Average account balance for plans listed is $126,091
Average participation rate for plans on the list is 93.84 percent
Average company generosity for plans listed is $5,693; the median is $4,791
Average salary deferral for plans listed is $6,831; the median is $5,913
Top 25 Charlotte Area companies with the highest ranked 401k planscontaining more than $100 million in assets:
BrightScope obtains an increasing amount of its data directly from plan sponsors and record keepers, and augments these primary sources with data from publicly available sources such as the Department of Labor and the Securities and Exchange Commission. By analyzing and interpreting this data, BrightScope provides unprecedented transparency into the 401k industry.
The BrightScope Rating was developed by BrightScope, Inc. with the help of leading academics and independent 401k fiduciaries. By analyzing more than 200 individual data points, the BrightScope Rating algorithm calculates a single numerical value for each 401k plan. The data points examined cover broad categories such as total plan cost, company generosity and investment menu quality.
BrightScope has rated nearly 50,000 401k and 403b plans, spanning more than 57 million workers and over $3 trillion in assets. Industry adoption of the BrightScope Rating will lead to more cost-effective plans, increased participation rates, higher employee satisfaction and better outcomes for the 60 million employees who depend on their 401k plan for retirement.
About BrightScope BrightScope is a financial information company that brings transparency to opaque markets through independent research and analysis. Delivered through web-based software, BrightScope data drives better decision-making for individual investors, corporate plan sponsors, asset managers, broker-dealers, and financial advisors. The BrightScope Rating™, developed in partnership with leading independent 401k fiduciaries, reviews more than 200 unique data inputs per plan and calculates a single numerical score which defines plan quality at the company level. In April 2011, the company launched BrightScope Advisor Pages™, the first comprehensive and publicly available directory of financial advisors designed to help consumers discover information and conduct due diligence on wealth management professionals. BrightScope also markets a suite of data analytics software products to Fortune 1000 companies, asset managers, broker-dealers, financial advisors, and other market participants. Public ratings for nearly 50,000 retirement plans as well as rating definitions, criteria and methodologies, and information on more than 680,000 financial advisors and nearly 33,000 active advisory firms are available for free at www.brightscope.com.
