From the beginning of time, all advisors have had one goal in mind: set up successful retirement plans for their clients. But we've all seen how the recent economic crisis has affected the picture significantly, and plan sponsors are cutting matches and losing traction. Over the past 10 years of working with Fortune 500′s, we've learned there are three fundamental factors in designing and managing a successful retirement plan, and if your client is struggling with participation, help them ensure they have these areas covered. If not, implementing these three key factors will help them dramatically increase their probability of success.

A discretionary match is better than no match. Let's face it, some match is better than no match, even if it ends up being close to nothing after all is said and done. Employees understand the tough economy is hitting everyone, including your clients, but they still want reassurance that their company values them. Offering a discretionary match, rather than cutting a current match on employee retirement accounts, can help break that stigma of cutting a match altogether and can help employees feel valued during hard economic times. Since research has shown that plan participation increases with a company match, having a discretionary one that can fluctuate with the companies' profit earnings, is a better option than none at all.

Offer auto-enrollment at a reasonable contribution rate. Besides a multitude of reasons to automatically enroll employees, such as risk mitigation against discrimination, soaring rates of plan participation (usually plan sponsors see 90 percent participation rates) and retaining valuable employees, auto-enrollment can easily help clients guide employees into good savings habits. Start at a 5 percent to 6 percent contribution rate rather than a lower one since many employees are not saving enough for retirement. This way, your client is stressing the importance of saving for retirement first, but not making it unreasonable for their employees to attain their goals.