Lockheed Martin, Southwest Airlines and Bayer were acknowledged as among the top 401(k) plan providers when it comes to fee structures, company generosity, participation rates, salary deferrals, and other factors, according to a survey.
 
On Tuesday BrightScope, a provider of independent retirement plan ratings and investment research, released its first year-end 401(k) Top 30 ratings list covering plans with more than $1 billion in assets. The BrightScope rating measures how effective a 401(k) plan is at getting its participants to retirement.
 
At the top of the BrightScope year-end ranking is Saudi Arabian Oil Co., with a rating of 92.89, followed by UAL Corp. (United Airlines Pilot Directed Account Plan), rated 90.59. The third spot is Wellington Management Co. LLP, currently rated 88.66.

BrightScope obtains its data directly from plan sponsors and record keepers, and enhances these sources with data from publicly available outlets such as the Department of Labor and the Securities and Exchange Commission. Its rating system analyzes more than 200 individual data points, covering broad categories such as total plan cost, company generosity and investment menu quality, and calculates a single numerical score for each 401(k) plan in the country.

BrightScope rated more than 26,000 401(k) plans, spanning more than 30 million workers and over $1.9 trillion in assets. The BrightScope rating covers small plans with assets of $50,000 through large plans with more than $30 billion.

 

Below is the list of the Top 30 401(k) Plans with More Than $1 Billion in Assets:

1) The Savings Plan of Saudi Arabian Oil Company

2) United Airlines Pilot Directed Account Plan

3) Wellington Retirement and Pension Plan

4) Southwest Airlines Pilots Retirement Savings Plan

5) SchwabPlan Retirement Savings and Investment Plan

6) ConocoPhillips Savings Plan

7) Chevron Employee Savings Investment Plan

8) ExxonMobil Savings Plan

9) Employees’ Savings and Retirement Plan of Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC

10) Amgen Retirement and Savings Plan

11) Nucor Corporation Profit Sharing and Retirement Savings Plan

12) BP Employee Savings Plan

13) Pharmacia Savings Plan – Pfizer Inc.

14) PACCAR Inc. Savings Investment Plan

15) The Cargill Partnership Plan

16) Textron Savings Plan

17) Valero Energy Corporation Thrift Plan

18) Freescale 401(k) Retirement Savings Plan

19) The 401(k) Savings and PSP of The McGraw-Hill Inc. and its subsidiaries

20) Bayer Corporation Savings and Retirement Plan

21) UBS Savings and Investment Plan

22) Schering-Plough Employees’ Savings Plan

23) GlaxoSmithKline Retirement Savings Plan

24) Motorola Inc. 401(k) Plan

25) Avaya Inc. Savings Plan for Salaried Employees

26) Nortel Networks Long-Term Investment Plan

27) Federal Express Corporation Pilots’ Retirement Savings Plan

28) IBM Savings Plan

29) Lockheed Martin Corporation Salaried Savings Plan

30. General Dynamics Corporation Savings and Stock Investment Plan (Plan 4.5)

Source: Brightscope