Testimony of Timothy Rouse, The SPARK Institute

This document is about the testimony of Timothy Rouse of The SPARK Institute before the ERISA Advisory Council. Rouse presents the results of a survey conducted by SPARK of 16 large retirement plan recordkeepers, which found that while a majority of plans offer a self-directed brokerage account option, only a small fraction of participants (about 2%) actually use them. Rouse argues that brokerage windows serve as a "noise reduction" tool for plan sponsors and that additional guidance or restrictions are not necessary, as the data does not indicate widespread abuse of such accounts.