Meet Biscuit, Chief Recreation Officer at Fur Fetched.
Fur Fetched is a growing pet toy company that ships a curated box every month. Biscuit has one problem the toys can’t fix: he’s worried about his owner’s retirement benefits. He has asked for your help to understand how retirement income options can work, and how a plan committee decides what to add.
By the end, you will be able to
- Explain how plan sponsors benefit from enhancing retirement income.
- Identify the risks that plan participants face in retirement that make retirement income features valuable to them.
- Sort plan features into the three categories of retirement income.
- Describe why governance comes before products.
Biscuit has three worries about his owner’s retirement.
Tap each worry to see the question a Fur Fetched participant would ask in its place. They are the same worries, in different words.
Saving got fixed. Spending is the open question.
Auto-enrollment, auto-escalation and target date funds made it far easier to build a balance. But hitting “the number” is only half the job: participants still need a way to turn it into income.
What plan design now handles
- Auto-enrollment: Gets people started without a decision.
- Auto-escalation: Raises contributions over time.
- Target date funds: Manage the investment mix.
What participants ask at retirement
- How much can I spend?
- How can I spend without worrying?
- How do I create a flexible plan that meets my essential needs?
A balance doesn’t tell you who is ready.
Plan success has usually been measured by participation, deferrals, performance and balances. Those numbers tell only part of the story. Spending down is often the hardest financial transition participants face.
Which of these does a sponsor you work with report today? Select all that apply.
All four describe saving.
None of them show whether a participant can turn the balance into income, or what happens to it once withdrawals begin. That gap is the opening for a retirement income conversation.
Three reasons a committee leans in.
DCIIA groups the case for retirement income under workforce management, participant outcomes and corporate goals. Pick a tab to see how each one sounds to a sponsor.
Workforce management
- Attraction and retention
- Less financial stress for employees
- Timely retirements
Participant outcomes
- Predictable income
- A bridge to delayed Social Security
Corporate goals
- Cost savings from greater productivity, reduced hiring costs, and timely retirement.
- Fewer errors lowering operational risk
- A replacement for a frozen DB plan
- Retaining assets in the plan
- Competitive positioning, especially where competitors offer a pension
Eight hazards stand between Biscuit and the dog house.
Tap a hazard to light it up on the trail and see what it means for a participant.
Pick a hazard
Each one is a different way a good balance can fall short of a good retirement.
Which hazard is each participant running into?
Tap a story, then tap the risk it describes. A correct match locks in.
Three bowls, three kinds of help.
Retirement income solutions fall into three categories, from the Beyond Accumulation framework. A sponsor can offer one, two or all three. Tap a bowl to see what’s inside.
Retirement income does not equal annuities.
Annuities provide guaranteed lifetime income, which is one of the three retirement income categories.. Check your instincts on these three statements.
Savings plan or retirement plan?
Many sponsors have already started building a retirement plan without realizing it. Map what they offer today onto the three categories, and the empty bowls become obvious. Here is Fur Fetched as an example.
Education and planning
- Recordkeeper retirement calculator
- Annual Social Security webinar
Investment and distribution
- Target date funds
- Lump-sum and installment withdrawals
Guaranteed lifetime income
- Nothing yet
Where does each feature belong?
Drag each feature into its bowl, or tap a feature and then tap the bowl.
Start with objectives, not with a product.
Begin with the sponsor’s goals and its duty to participants. Doing nothing is a choice too, so make it thoughtfully. For you, this is a natural extension of fiduciary work you already do. Tap each one.
More clarity for sponsors, not a mandate.
Recent law and guidance have made it easier to see how lifetime income can fit in a plan. None of it requires a sponsor to add anything. Frame it as clearer ground to stand on.
- 2019
SECURE Act
Added a safe harbor for selecting an insurer for a guaranteed retirement income contract, and lifetime income illustrations on participant benefit statements.
- 2022
SECURE 2.0
Built on that groundwork with further changes that touch annuities and retirement income, such as rules for QLACs and required minimum distributions.
- 2025
DOL Advisory Opinion 2025-04A
Said an investment service with a lifetime income feature could qualify as a QDIA, if it meets the other QDIA requirements.
- 2026
DOL proposed rule
Published March 31, 2026. Proposes a process-based safe harbor for how fiduciaries select designated investment alternatives, built around six factors: performance, fees, liquidity, valuation, benchmark and complexity.
Retirement income isn’t a product. It’s a process.
Next up is the quiz. Ten questions, 80% to pass, and you can retake it.