Auto Portability - Public Policy
Learn more about retirement savings public policy positions related to Auto Portability.
More SECURE 2.0 Retirement Enhancements Kick in This Year
Writing in Kiplinger's Personal Finance, Mike Dullaghan, Director of Sales Execution for Franklin Templeton, runs down the new SECURE 2.0 provisions that will become fully-enabled in 2025. Dullaghan informs readers that the auto portability provision "makes it easier to transfer your retirement savings from one employer’s plan to another when you change jobs. It helps ensure that your retirement savings stay with you, no matter where you work."
Stage is set for improving retirement readiness beyond ERISA milestone
Writing in Employee Benefits News, Retirement Clearinghouse (RCH) and Portability Services Network (PSN) President & CEO Spencer Williams looks to the past and has his eye on the future, as ERISA celebrates its 50th anniversary. Williams chronicles key participant-centric technologies that have emerged, including daily valuation, automatic enrollment and target date funds. Looking ahead, Williams points to the most impactful developments, including the formation of the Portability Services Network, which has embraced auto portability, “making it easy for participants to bring their retirement savings with them from job to job until retirement” and “optimiz[ing] what auto enrollment and target-date funds can do for American workers saving for retirement.”
Is It Time to End the 401(k)?
Writing in Think Advisor, Melanie Waddell addresses the controversial stance taken by academic Shlomo Benartzi, who blasts the 401(k) system's lack of portability, pointing to the Australian model as worthy of consideration for replacing 401(k) plans. Other industry observers are not too keen on Benartzi's idea, including Nevin Adams, who cites the Portability Services Network's embrace of auto portability, which "already connect[s] a half dozen of the nation's leading recordkeepers to facilitate exactly the type of job-to-job plan transfer Benartzi seems to think only a centralized government pool could accomplish."
Et tu, Shlomo?
Nevin Adams, writing in NAPA Net, takes on a leading behavioral science academic, Shlomo Benartzi, for his advocacy of "creating big government-run pools of retirement savings — where ALL retirement savings would be put." As a viable alternative to this "truly scary idea" Adams cites auto portability, noting that it's "an emerging capability — via networks like the Portability Services Network that already connect a half dozen of the nation’s leading recordkeepers to facilitate exactly the type of job-to-job plan transfer Benartzi seems to think only a centralized government pool could accomplish."
After 50 years of milestones, the retirement industry is bracing for yet more innovation
Writing in BenefitsPRO on the occasion of National 401(k) Day, Retirement Clearinghouse (RCH) and Portability Services Network (PSN) President & CEO Spencer Williams takes the long view -- looking back at the 50 years that have elapsed since the passage of ERISA in 1974. As Williams writes, "[m]uch has been accomplished over the previous 50 years, and more innovation is on the horizon" while proceeding to describe the "long and winding road" of innovations that have led to present day. The accumulation of innovative features, asserts Williams, has positioned the industry for the adoption of auto portability, where "people really can take their benefits with them from job to job, and keep their retirement savings vested."
The Scramble to Make the Saver’s Match Work
PlanAdviser's Alex Ortolani reports on the increasing attention being paid to the Saver's Match program as the 2027 target date for the measure's implementation draws closer. Industry groups such as the Pew Charitable Trusts and the Bipartisan Policy Center, acknowledge there could be issues for the program in addressing "the plumbing with recordkeepers." Ortolani turns to RCH CEO Spencer Williams, who indicates that the Saver's Match program could benefit from auto portability technology being deployed by the Portability Services Network, stating that the "utility can be modestly tweaked so the U.S. Treasury can....identify a taxpayer, select a dollar amount and get the money into their plan. At the end of the day, you have to move the money to make it work.”
Robert L. Johnson Talks Auto Portability, Racial Wealth Gap at EBRI Spring Policy Forum
Writing in 401k Specialist, , RCH EVP, Public Policy, provides readers with a summary of the May 16th keynote address by Robert L. (Bob) Johnson, Chairman of The RLJ Companies, Retirement Clearinghouse (RCH) and the Portability Services Network (PSN), to the 2024 EBRI Spring Policy Forum, co-hosted by the American Benefits Council. In Johnson’s address, entitled “Helping to narrow the nation’s lingering racial wealth gap” – the legendary Black American entrepreneur gave Forum attendees insight into the businessman’s long, purpose-driven journey to create entrepreneurial solutions to social problems, including his current efforts in the retirement sector, where he’s become laser-focused on leveraging public/private sector solutions that narrow the wealth gap for minorities and women.
Expanding Retirement Plan Automation
PlanAdviser's Natalie Lin reports on the 5/16/24 EBRI Spring Policy Forum, where an expert panel was convened to discuss how automation features can help underserved communities save for retirement. In that discussion, Jason Jagatic, head of global and workplace thought leadership at Fidelity, pointed to auto portability as "beneficial to underserved communities in particular, as they are often made up of part-time workers who shift employers frequently." Lin added that "Fidelity, along with some of the country’s other largest recordkeepers, is part of the Portability Services Network providing the porting of retirement assets. The services went live among some recordkeepers in November 2023, with others coming online this year and into the future."
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