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Mobile workforce (or job-changing participants) blog posts
Auto Portability: Meeting the Needs AND Wants of Participants
When American workers change jobs, the fate of their retirement savings is often left hanging in the balance – especially for those with accounts less than $7,000. But today, with the continuing adoption of auto portability via the Portability Services Network, the story is changing. Auto portability is now beginning to address the most pressing needs of small-balance participants: reducing cashout leakage, automating consolidation, and making the preservation of retirement savings the default, “easiest choice” – while also closely aligning with what participants want, as revealed in multiple, authoritative surveys.
New Research Shines Light on the Saver’s Match Program
Writing in the RCH Consolidation Corner blog, Tom Hawkins puts two recent Saver’s Match research findings – one from Morningstar and the other from RCH – into perspective. The Morningstar research, authored by industry veteran Jack VanDerhei and Spencer Look, pegs the potential incremental retirement wealth generated by the Saver’s Match at $2.03 trillion. Another research effort, conducted by Retirement Clearinghouse, involves a discrete event simulation model of the Saver’s Match program, simulating specific technologies and operational solutions required to support the program. Together, writes Hawkins, “these two new research efforts…quantify overall Saver’s Match program benefits, and model the potential size, scale and operations of the program.”
Why Preserving Small Balances Matters (and How Auto Portability Helps)
The preservation of small-balance 401(k) accounts – particularly those under $7,000 and subject to 401(k) plans’ automatic rollover provisions – represents an important challenge for America’s retirement system. In his 6/26/25 article in RCH's Consolidation Corner blog, Tom Hawkins examines four compelling arguments for the importance of preserving small balances, while demonstrating how auto portability, as delivered by the Portability Services Network (PSN), can help achieve this goal.
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).
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.
The Compelling Case for Women and Auto Portability
Auto portability will deliver broad-based benefits to America’s workforce, but research has shown that the new feature disproportionately benefits under-saved and underserved demographic segments, including minorities, women, lower-income and younger workers. Within those demographic segments, a very compelling case can be made for the importance of auto portability to women, who face unique retirement savings challenges that auto portability can help address.
ERISA’s Golden Anniversary has Set the Stage for Helping Future Generations Improve Their Retirement Outcomes—in 2025 & Beyond
Writing in the Consolidation Corner blog 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.”
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.”
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