Boston, MA (March 14, 2005) — DALBAR, Inc. announced today that Prudential Retirement has been awarded the DALBAR Seal of Excellence for its Defined Contribution, Defined Benefit and Total Retirement Plan participant statements. The seals are awarded to outstanding statements that effectively and efficiently meet the needs of participants in employer-sponsored retirement programs.
Before awarding the seals, DALBAR conducts a series of tests on each statement to establish that it meets the principal objectives of its audience. The results of these tests indicate that the defined contribution statement successfully meets the requirements of plan participants and is outstanding in:
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Giving the participant the most important information, such as the account balance, plan ‘snapshot’, plan sponsor news, account summary and targeted messaging, all in the beginning of the statement.
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Inviting readership through the statement’s design and layout using bold fonts, graphs and benchmarks to relay important information to the participant.
Prudential Retirement’s defined benefit statement was also analyzed. The results of these tests indicate that the defined benefit statement successfully meets the requirements of plan participants and is outstanding in:
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Providing the participant with his/her current account balance, estimated benefit at normal retirement date and benefits payable at varying retirement ages, in a format that is easy to read with bolded values for importance.
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Graphically providing both the estimated benefit and recommended earnings replacement ratio at-a-glance in the beginning of the statement.
Prudential’s total retirement statement was subjected to testing as well. The results of these tests also indicate that the total retirement statement successfully meets the requirements of plan participants and is outstanding in:
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Providing the participant with an at-a-glance statement that provides detailed information about their defined benefit, defined contribution, and Social Security benefits in a layout that is pleasing to the eye and avoids language that may be confusing.
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Customization and variability in statement content and design allow the plan sponsor to target a specific employee base, business or plan feature.
“Earning the DALBAR Seal of Excellence underscores our commitment to deliver meaningful retirement-planning information in an understandable and useful format,” said Robert F. Cirrotti, vice president, Product & Advisory Services, at Prudential Retirement. “By structuring our statements to address the distinct needs of individual plan participants, we believe we can promote informed decision making and help people grow and protect their retirement assets.”
DALBAR, Inc., the nation’s leading financial-services market research firm, continues its nearly three-decade commitment to raising the standards of excellence in the industry. With offices in the US and Canada, DALBAR develops standards for, and provides research, ratings, and rankings of intangible factors that influence the overall customer-service experience in the mutual fund, broker/dealer, managed account, retirement plan, life insurance and property and casualty insurance industries. Such factors include print communications, Internet, interactive voice response, call center, and financial-professional touch points. www.dalbar.com.
Prudential Retirement, a business of Prudential Retirement (NYSE:PRU), delivers retirement plan solutions for public, private, and non-profit organizations. Services include state-of-the-art recordkeeping, administration, investment management, comprehensive employee investment education and communications, and trustee services. With over 80 years of retirement experience, Prudential Retirement meets the needs of two million defined contribution participants and more than one million defined benefit annuitants. Prudential Retirement has $130 billion in retirement account values as of December 31, 2004.
Prudential Financial companies, with approximately $500 billion in total assets under management as of December 31, 2004, serve individual and institutional customers worldwide and include The Prudential Insurance Company of America, one of the largest life insurance companies in the United States. These companies offer a variety of products and services, including life insurance, mutual funds, annuities, pension and retirement related services and administration, asset management, securities brokerage, banking and trust services, real estate brokerage franchises and relocation services. For more information, visit www.prudential.com.
