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Seven plan sponsors that had adopted the dynamic QDIA between January 2019 and April 2020 were interviewed for this report, which details the outcomes of those interviews.

This glossary defines many of the terms related to retirement income that are referenced throughout the Retirement Tier series.

The dynamic QDIA can be defined as an investment option that starts a participant off in one investment product or solution (e.g., a target date fund (TDF), managed account (MA) or target risk fund) and, upon reaching a certain threshold (e.g., account balance, age) automatically transitions the participant into a second, more retirement-focused product or solution (e.g., annuities, managed account, managed payout fund, etc.). Typically, a dynamic QDIA is structured as a target date fund with a reallocation of participants’ balances into a managed account at a transition age, usually around 50 years old. This structure is the focus of this paper’s research.

This report summarizes a series of interviews with nine of the largest recordkeepers in the United States and seven plan sponsors. It also provides insights for developing emergency savings products. The emergency savings crisis has only been exacerbated by COVID-19; therefore, it is even more important today that recordkeepers are knowledgeable on emergency savings solutions.