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Automatic rollovers blog posts
Beyond Missing: Targeting Unresponsive Participants in Retirement Plans
Writing in the RCH Consolidation Corner blog, Tom Hawkins examines the phenomenon of ‘unresponsive’ participants, which he defines as participants “for whom a plan has correct contact information, but who fail to respond to plan communications.” This sub-set of missing participants presents plan sponsors with unique challenges, because “the challenge is not finding them – it’s engaging them.” Hawkins continues by identifying six major drivers of unresponsive participants, while offering plan sponsors six best practices to minimize them.
On Earth Day, Consider Auto Portability to ‘Recycle’ 401(k) Savings
On April 22nd, we celebrate the 55th annual Earth Day, and
that gives RCH’s Tom Hawkins the opportunity to consider how the concept of
recycling applies to our nation’s 401(k) system, which Hawkins characterizes as
having a “waste problem” that manifests in the form of excessive cashout
leakage and stranded accounts. By contrast, auto portability represents a
sustainable solution that ‘recycles’ small-balance accounts, and its adoption
is rapidly accelerating following the operational status of the Portability
Services Network (PSN).
Three Steps to Getting Off the Uncashed Distribution Check Treadmill
If you’re a defined contribution plan sponsor struggling with uncashed distribution checks, it can feel you’re on a never-ending treadmill. However, there are effective strategies that can greatly reduce the time, cost and risks associated with uncashed checks. Writing in the RCH Consolidation Corner blog, Tom Hawkins outlines three key steps to getting off the treadmill, including 1) a proactive program of locating missing participants, 2) eliminating the automatic cashout of sub-$1,000 balances and 2) utilizing safe harbor IRAs to resolve stale-dated checks.
Here’s to the Future “Graduates” of Auto Portability
While auto portability’s immediate impact in reducing cashouts is well-documented, new insights reveal another powerful long-term effect: systematic balance consolidation that helps small-balance job-changing participants cross the vital $10,000 savings hurdle, where retirement security becomes self-reinforcing. Writing the RCH’s Consolidation Corner blog, Tom Hawkins characterizes this effect as “graduating” from auto portability and uses Auto Portability Simulation (APS) data to follow a hypothetical “class” of 100 small-balance job-changers through their first three jobs – where 36% compile a perfect record of savings preservation and balance consolidation.
Dressing Up Traditional Automatic Rollovers
Writing in the Consolidation Corner blog, RCH’s Tom Hawkins describes learning about the existence of so-called “world-class” automatic rollover IRA services which lay claim to unspecified, premium features. In his article, Hawkins characterizes them as “old-school, traditional automatic rollover IRAs” which place participants in high-fee, safe harbor IRA “landfills” where their small balances languish. What’s needed, writes Hawkins, is “not faux fancy features – it’s a low-fee, transitional safe harbor IRA that preserves small-balance retirement savings for only as long as they can be consolidated into a current-employer’s plan or into another IRA.”
Four Compelling Reasons for Plan Sponsors to Adopt Auto Portability
Writing in the Consolidation Corner blog, RCH's Tom Hawkins offers plan sponsors four compelling reasons to adopt auto portability. Hawkins cites the groundswell of support that auto portability has already received from the retirement industry, from legislators and regulators, as well as the thousands of plan sponsors who have already adopted, advising plan sponsors that they need not fear "being first" when they adopt. By adopting, they'll be acting in their plan's best interests and in the interests of its participants, who've expressed a strong desire for the new feature.
The Risky Business of Cashing Out Plan Balances Below $1,000
Writing in the RCH Consolidation Corner blog, Tom Hawkins examines the “risky business” of automatically cashing out sub-$1,000 balances of separated participants. Hawkins writes that the practice, “may seem like an expedient approach to rid a plan of small balances” but “carries undesirable side effects for both the plan and for its participants” including uncashed distribution checks and unnecessary cashout leakage. The best approach, continues Hawkins, is to “adopt auto portability, which delivers all of the benefits but none of the flaws of old-school automatic rollovers.”
Safe-Harbor IRAs Don’t Offer a Long-Term Saving Solution for Plan Participants
Writing in the RCH Consolidation Corner blog, RCH and PSN President & CEO Spencer Williams reflects on the 20-year history of safe harbor IRAs, which were intended to be "a temporary solution to the problem of too many small, stranded accounts in defined contribution plans." Williams provides readers with examples of the dysfunction that has occurred when safe harbor IRAs have failed to act as long-term repositories of savings, or worse, when participants cash out completely. With the advent of auto portability, Williams maintains that the new auto feature will "allow participants to maximize the time retirement savings are invested in their plan accounts—and minimize the time those balances are languishing in underperforming safe-harbor IRAs along the journey to retirement."
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