Plan Sponsors and SECURE Acts: What Do They Know?

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Alicia Edwards
Research Analyst - Workplace Benefits
LIMRA

June 2025

The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act of 2019 was landmark legislation intended to expand access to workplace retirement savings. It primarily focused on making it easier and more feasible for employers — especially smaller employers — to offer plans, mostly defined contribution (DC) plans. With the addition of 2022’s SECURE 2.0, the workplace retirement savings system has been fundamentally expanded, giving employers more options than ever for plan design and implementation.

Between these two acts, there is a lot for employers to unpack and incorporate into their retirement programs, whether they are newly creating a plan or already have one in place.

LIMRA recently explored employer understanding of the SECURE Acts’ many provisions.

SECURE Act of 2019

The SECURE Act was enacted in 2019. The two main thrusts of this legislation were to expand employee access and usage of the available retirement savings plans and to provide their employers the ability to offer these savings tools to employees with ease. Some of the features aligning with the goals of this iteration of SECURE include:

Making it easier for small businesses to offer retirement plans to their employees with the creation of pooled employer plans (PEPs).
Allowing long-term, part-time employees to make voluntary DC plan elective deferrals.
Facilitating employee participation in DC guaranteed lifetime income payment options by requiring illustrations that explain the options available for purchase, along with the underlying assumptions.

SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022

The SECURE 2.0 Act was signed into law just three years after the SECURE Act of 2019. Enacted in December 2022, SECURE 2.0 expanded on the 2019 legislation and had several key drivers, also aimed at increasing plan availability and participation.

Provisions of this act expanded automatic enrollment for 401(k) and 403(b) plans requiring employers for newly established plans to automatically enroll their employees. Employees can, however, opt out of automatic contributions if they choose. Employers also have the option to allow employees to access a portion of their 401(k) accounts when emergencies arise. Employees can contribute match-eligible funds to their accounts without worrying about taxes or penalties on emergency withdrawals.

With new features that take effect in 2025 and beyond, SECURE 2.0 also brings heightened eligibility for long-term part-time employees, shortening the service requirement from three years to two years. Eligibility to make catch-up contributions expands to include ages 60 – 63. Eligibility also expands for disabled persons, increasing the maximum age threshold to establish an Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) (529A) account from ages 26 to 46. Provisions will also allow plan sponsors to offer qualified long-term care distributions to plan participants to pay for insurance premiums for care covering the employee or a family member.

Plan Sponsor SECURE Survey

LIMRA recently surveyed plan sponsors to learn how well they understand both acts’ many provisions, and how they choose to inform themselves about the changing regulatory environment. We surveyed 1,000 employers who sponsor a DC plan and have employee populations of 10 or more.

Many employers have limited understanding of the changes introduced by the SECURE Acts. Nearly 40 percent report little or no understanding of the actual acts themselves, while fewer than 20 percent feel they are “very” familiar with either act. Familiarity with the changes brought by SECURE 2.0 are even lower. (Figure 1)

Figure 1. How Familiar Are Plan Sponsors with SECURE(s)?

Understanding of various provisions within the acts varies. Interestingly, more sponsors report that they are “very” familiar with many specific provisions than with the overall acts themselves. This suggests that perhaps they may focus on provisions that are more prominent in public awareness, such as student loan assistance or emergency savings. Additionally, plan advisors might influence this focus by emphasizing specific plan design elements and issues.

When asked what their preferred sources of information are when educating themselves about regulatory and legislative information, such as these acts, plan advisors emerged as the most influential, with 43 percent of sponsors rating them a “top 3” go-to resource. Record keepers followed, with 30 percent placing them in the top 3. Both advisors and record keepers, the top two information sources, outrank plan sponsors’ own internal resources.

Tapping Into SECURE

Although SECURE legislation has opened the door to opportunities for more workers to begin saving in the workplace and for those nearing retirement age to save more, many plan sponsors have little to no awareness of features they could implement to enhance the long-term financial security of their employees. For example, more and more new entrants to the workforce have mounting college debt and are faced with the choice of repaying their student loans or saving for retirement. SECURE helps to resolve this dilemma by enabling employers to match student loan repayments through their retirement savings plans. Educating plan sponsors on the provisions of SECURE that they are not yet utilizing could initiate positive changes that significantly impact employees’ overall financial wellness.

The opportunities for retirement plan service providers and advisors are clear. By assisting plan sponsor clients in responding to the many changes required or introduced by SECURE, plan advisors and record keepers can demonstrate their consultative value and facilitate industry progress by helping both employers and employees improve their retirement plans and realities.