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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.”
Leakage & Shrinkage: Two Brothers from the Same Mother
Writing in the RCH Consolidation Corner blog, Tom Hawkins compares and contrasts cashout leakage with “shrinkage” – a related phenomenon newly identified by Vanguard in their September 2024 study: Job transitions slow retirement savings. Although the Vanguard study does not specifically use the term “shrinkage” – their study refers to a decline in retirement savings rates that occurs when individuals transition between jobs, leading to sub-optimal retirement outcomes. Hawkins also finds it intriguing that the Vanguard study identifies auto portability as a potential solution for the shrinkage problem, promoting better retirement outcomes for workers.
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.
Auto Portability Adoption Picks Up Steam
RCH EVP Neal Ringquist examines recent developments surrounding auto portability, which is now in the early stages of plan sponsor adoption. Ringquist writes that plan sponsor adoption “has begun to pick up steam” and shares results that “over 3,300 plans – representing almost 1.4 million active participants” have adopted auto portability via their PSN-affiliated recordkeepers. Ringquist credits PSN recordkeepers with leading the way, while citing a recent article about the Unum Group that provided an innovative plan sponsor’s perspective on the new feature. Looking ahead, Ringquist envisions auto portability becoming a “must-have” feature for sponsors and recordkeepers and expects “more adoption ahead – a lot more.”
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."
The Truth About Old-School Automatic Rollovers
Writing in the Consolidation Corner blog, RCH’s Tom Hawkins takes on “old-school” automatic rollover programs which produce massive amounts of cashout leakage and strand millions of participants’ balances in safe harbor IRAs. While old-school automatic rollovers have one foot in the past, Hawkins writes: “automatic rollovers that incorporate auto portability are the way of the future, with the industry-led Portability Services Network leading the way forward.” For plan sponsors, contends Hawkins, “auto portability delivers all the plan optimization features of old-school automatic rollover programs but goes one key step further” by automatically rolling-in eligible balances for new plan participants.
Robert L. Johnson Gives Keynote Address at 2024 EBRI Spring Policy Forum
On May 16th, Robert L. (Bob) Johnson, Chairman of The RLJ Companies, Retirement Clearinghouse (RCH) and the Portability Services Network (PSN), delivered the keynote address 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.
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