Manulife Financial today announced a three-year agreement with behavioural finance expert Dr. Shlomo Benartzi to provide insights on retirement savings trends to Manulife’s Canadian group savings clients.

Benartzi, a professor at University of California, Los Angeles, observes emerging trends among international retirement savings plan participants.

His research findings are reflected in quarterly custom newsletters for Manulife’s Canadian group savings clients. Clients are also invited to participate in a web-based discussion with Benartzi to discuss how observations relate to their retirement savings programs.

Benartzi is a pioneer in studying participant behaviour in retirement savings plans, including development of Save More Tomorrow — a behavioural model designed to help participants increase their savings rates gradually over time.

Despite the availability of resources to help members understand their plans and make decisions that will lead to good outcomes in retirement, inertia continues to plague the industry, Manulife says.

Significant numbers of plan participants leave their savings in default funds and an equally substantial number make no effort to take advantage of features like company matches. These same behaviours have been observed — and explained — in initiatives by Benartzi and his colleagues.

U.S.-based plan sponsors are already applying the results of these studies to assist their plan members.

With access to this new service, Manulife’s clients can benefit from the insights identified by the studies, and can apply that knowledge when designing or adapting retirement plans and communication initiatives.