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401(k) cash out leakage blog posts
The “Free Lunch” That is Retirement Savings Portability
Writing in the RCH Consolidation Corner blog, Tom Hawkins asserts that "retirement savings portability helps everyone, hurts no one – and with no cost to plan sponsors to implement – it’s the equivalent of a 'free lunch' for the retirement savings ecosystem." Hawkins goes on to back up that claim by detailing the benefits of portability programs to key stakeholders, directing readers to empirical support for those benefits and identifying "five recent, broad-based developments that, taken together, make a compelling case that full retirement savings portability is close to becoming a reality."
The Plan Sponsor Case for Auto Portability
Writing in the RCH Consolidation Corner blog, Steve Holman, SVP of PSN Strategy and Development, makes a compelling case for plan sponsor adoption of auto portability, as delivered by the Portability Services Network. Holman identifies four key issues that auto portability addresses, including high workforce mobility, reducing plan leakage, lowering administrative burdens, and curbing growth in small, inactive accounts -- while citing seven solid reasons why the choice to adopt auto portability adoption is in plan sponsors' best interests.
Retirement Savings Portability – An Idea Whose Time Has (Finally) Come
Writing in RCH’s Consolidation Corner, Tom Hawkins takes stock of five recent, broad-based developments that, taken together, make a compelling case that full retirement savings portability is getting closer to becoming a reality. Key developments Hawkins describes include: 1) auto portability and the rise of the Portability Services Network, 2) key government retirement savings initiatives, 3) potential provisions of SECURE 3.0, 4) an increased focus on “forgotten” accounts and 5) expanding the portability of Roth balances.
Larger 401(k) Plans Embrace Auto Portability as Due Diligence Drives Confidence
Since late 2023, when auto portability – as delivered via the Portability Services Network (PSN) – became operational, the new plan feature has been steadily working its way from an innovative concept into a core best practice for addressing the chronic problem of retirement plan cashout leakage. What’s becoming increasingly clear is that larger 401(k) plans are now joining the movement in meaningful numbers. That shift represents an important inflection point: one where cautious, scale‑focused plan sponsors are completing their due diligence and becoming confident that auto portability delivers real, measurable value to participants without introducing unnecessary risk.
On Earth Day, Consider Auto Portability to ‘Recycle’ 401(k) Savings
On April 22nd, we celebrate the 56th 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 via members of the Portability
Services Network (PSN).
Financial Literacy and the Power of Preservation
Writing in the RCH Consolidation Corner blog, Tom Hawkins shares his impressions from the 3/31/26 SPARK Champions for Financial Literacy event in Washington, DC, which kicked off Financial Literacy Month. Hawkins notes the impressive line-up of speakers, including policy headliners Kevin Hassett, Director, National Economic Council and Luke Pettit, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Institutions, and many others – all sharing relevant personal and professional experiences that spoke directly to the transformative power of financial literacy. However, it was the address by RCH President & CEO Spencer Williams, whose laser focus on savings preservation and his passionate advocacy for the building out of a “neutral, industry-scale clearinghouse” that could wind up being the most consequential message delivered at the event. Williams’ full speech is included in the article.
Building Out the Clearinghouse Our Retirement System Demands
On March 5, 2025, Retirement Clearinghouse (RCH) released a landmark whitepaper – Building Out Clearinghouse Services for the U.S. Retirement System: A Blueprint for a Digital Infrastructure. In this article, RCH's Tom Hawkins, a co-author of the paper, summarizes the high-level, compelling case for expanding the set of clearinghouse services beyond auto portability, and explains why this initiative is absolutely required in order to "create a retirement ecosystem that does what it should have done all along: protect workers’ savings as they move through their careers, not lose them along the way."
Auto Portability: Adoption Figures Soar; Thought Leaders Want More
RCH’s Tom Hawkins, writing in RCH’s Consolidation Corner, recounts an extraordinary month of October for auto portability, with “with plan sponsor adoption surging and industry thought leaders increasingly recognizing the promise of auto portability in finally solving longstanding 401(k) system portability issues.” This level of interest and support for auto portability indicates that “the shift is on” and auto portability “is now clearly winning the day.”
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