2022 Members’ Choice Award
The Members’ Choice award, created in 2021, allows NAGDCA members to select the plan they feel deserves special recognition for its outstanding project or campaign. The Leadership Award winners are eligible for the award, and all NAGDCA Annual Conference attendees have the opportunity to vote for their favorite campaign or project.
The plan that receives the most votes is recognized as the annual Members’ Choice Award winner. The winning plan earns bragging rights and receives complimentary annual NAGDCA membership for the following year.
The winner of the 2022 award was announced live during the Awards Presentation at the Annual Conference and details about the winning nomination can be found below.
2022 Award Winner
NAGDCA Members Select Alameda County as the 2022 Members’ Choice Award Winner
The 2022 NAGDCA Members’ Choice Award was presented to Alameda County and its industry partners during the 2022 Awards Presentation Ceremony during the annual conference. The award acknowledges the plan for its 2021 Income Replacement Study. The County was also awarded with a 2022 Leadership Recognition Award in the Plan Design & Administration category.
Alameda County, California covers much of the East Bay area, including the cities of Oakland and Berkeley. County employees participate in the Alameda County Employees’ Retirement Association (ACERA) pension program. The County offers a voluntary 457(b) plan as a supplemental retirement savings option. Given the extremely high regional cost of living, the County is concerned about retirees’ ability to maintain their standard of living throughout retirement. Does the combination of the ACERA pension and voluntary 457(b) savings achieve reasonable employee retirement outcomes? Are employees saving enough? Are they investing in a way that will help them achieve a timely, comfortable retirement? Further, research confirms that plan participants do not manage their investments well on their own and benefit greatly from professional “do-it-for-me” solutions, such as Target Date Funds (TDFs) and Managed Accounts. But there are so many options in the marketplace. – Which is best? And for whom? Under what circumstances? – Without quantifying the actual employee income replacement gap, there is no way to answer these questions.
The County, in conjunction with plan consultant Retirement Plan Advisors (RPA), set out to conduct a detailed income replacement study of all active County employees to accurately identify the current state of their retirement readiness. The County’s ultimate goal was to use the findings to implement effective
solution(s) to immediately and positively impact employee retirement outcomes. Work began on the project in early 2021 and was completed in Fall 2021.
Click here to learn more about the award-winning project.
We want to help every employee achieve a financially secure retirement, and we have the data to figure it out. By conducting a detailed retirement income replacement study, down to the individualized level, we were able to identify the most efficient way to positively impact our participants’ future financial security!
Hank Levy, Treasurer and Tax Collector, Alameda County