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Retirement plan portability blog posts
RCH Consolidation Corner Channel Ep. 23 - 2025: A Breakthrough Year for Portability
Welcome to the 23rd episode of the RCH Consolidation Corner Channel, where we provide audio content that explores key issues in the preservation and consolidation of retirement savings. In this episode, we look at some of 2025’s key developments in the realm of retirement savings portability. We hope you’ll find the audio enjoyable and informative.
2025: A Breakthrough Year for Portability
Writing in the Consolidation Corner blog, RCH’s Tom Hawkins looks back on 2025, when four important developments emerged related to the topic of retirement savings portability. Taken together, Hawkins asserts that these developments represent a “breakthrough year for portability” with a “clear pattern emerging – where retirement savings portability in general, and specifically – auto portability, will figure prominently in the drive for increased retirement security in 2026 and beyond.”
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.”
‘Forgotten’ Accounts: Forget Hyperbole, Here’s a Solution
In the wake of industry media outlets’ reporting on research estimating there are 31.9 million “forgotten” 401(k) accounts totaling about $2.1 trillion in assets, NAPA Net posted two sober-minded takes on the matter, contending there’s no justification for broadly labeling these accounts as “forgotten” while also observing that the figures “serve as a proxy for a lack of efficient account portability." Following NAPA Net’s lead, RCH’s Tom Hawkins, writing in the RCH Consolidation Corner blog, evaluates three potential solutions to enable broad portability, zeroing in on an “affirmative consent-based automatic transfer process, applying to all balances not covered by auto portability and supporting IRA rollovers, plan-to-plan roll-ins, as well as those who choose to stay in-plan.”
RCH Consolidation Corner Channel Ep. 20 - Empirical Data Proves Portability Works
Welcome to yet another edition of the RCH Consolidation Corner Channel, our 20th episode thus far. We continue to provide you, the listener, with audio content that explores key issues in the preservation and consolidation of retirement savings. In this episode, we take a look at some very compelling real-world studies that prove that programs promoting retirement savings portability – and specifically auto portability – work extremely effectively to dramatically reduce cashout leakage. We hope you’ll find the audio enjoyable and informative.
Proof Positive: Retirement Savings Portability Works
We’ve long known – through sophisticated models such as EBRI’s Retirement Security Projection Model (RSPM) and the RCH Auto Portability Simulation Model – that retirement savings portability has the potential to significantly reduce cashout leakage and to generate systemic benefits. But models, however sophisticated they may be, can be inherently less convincing than hard, empirical data. In this RCH Consolidation Corner article, Tom Hawkins provides readers with definitive, real-world empirical data proving that portability not only works – it works at scale – and will deliver consistent results over many years and for millions of job-changing participants.
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.
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.
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