Media Coverage

Small 401(k) balances erode after job changes, new research shows

InvestmentNews Senior Journalist Leo Almazora examines new research from Vanguard that examines early-stage auto portability results as well as a report produced by PensionBee on the number of safe harbor IRAs. Almazora notes Vanguard's finding that auto portability has had a significant, positive effect on reducing cashout leakage, but that account matching lags as the Portability Services Network continues to add plan sponsors.

Don’t Let a Forgotten 401(k) Shrink Your Future

Craig Copeland, Ph.D., Director of Wealth Benefits Research at the Employee Benefit Research Institute, is interviewed by Broadcast Retirement News (BRN) anchor Jeff Snyder, to discuss EBRI's latest research on the growing volume of safe harbor IRAs. Copeland estimates there to be from 10-20 million safe harbor IRA accounts, amounting to roughly $30 billion in assets, which typically earn very little investment return, while being subject to ongoing administrative fees. To address the problem, Copeland, referencing the Portability Services Network (PSN), states: "there is [an] auto portability program that’s been established and...is available to be used through this process. And it has to go through the IRA and, and then there’s....a network of record keepers that can join to make this a fully automated process."

Also featured in AOL.com and MSN Money

Automatic 401(k) rollovers reduce cash-outs, research finds — but few accounts reach new employer plans

CNBC personal finance reporter Sarah Agostino examines auto portability (as delivered by the Portability Services Network), citing recent research from Vanguard showing that auto portability reduces cashout leakage. Agostino also to RCH's Steve Holman, SVP, PSN Strategy and Development to provide context as auto portability adoption continues to expand. Holman explains that "there have been 53,118 completed transactions, totaling $71.3 million in assets transferred from a previous employer plan to a new employer plan via auto portability."

4 reasons defined contribution recordkeepers adopt auto portability

Writing in BenefitsPRO, Steve Holman, SVP of PSN Strategy & Development, lays out the case for auto portability from the perspective of defined contribution recordkeepers. Holman identifies four important reasons why auto portability is beneficial, including 1) delivering a positive ROI, 2) differentiating their value proposition, 3) industry collaboration & reciprocity and 4) strengthening the DC system by addressing the small account problem at scale. “Auto portability” concludes Holman, “is not simply an operational enhancement – it is a foundational capability for the future of defined contribution plans.”

Previously featured in RCH's Consolidation Corner

The Future of Retirement Savings Portability Requires More Than Automation

Writing in the Consolidation Corner blog, RCH’s Tom Hawkins offers his take on the retirement industry’s responses to IRS Notice 2026-49 (Guidance on Section 324 of the SECURE 2.0 Act with Respect to Rollovers), which proposed four model forms and a five-step process designed to facilitate retirement savings portability. Hawkins is encouraged “that a growing number of industry stakeholders recognize that solving these challenges requires a more coordinated infrastructure approach” which he describes as “an important validation of a philosophy that has guided [RCH’s] work for nearly two decades."

Industry Demonstrates Need for Better Retirement Savings Rollover Support for Job Changers

PLANSPONSOR's Emily Boyle addresses recent research from Empower (The Retirement Drift) which lays out their analysis of “left-behind” fragmented accounts and the mobile workforce. Boyle also highlights recent research from Vanguard (Does Portability Services Network preserve retirement savings? Early evidence) which analyzes early results from PSN Auto Portability, indicating that "auto portability through PSN significantly cut cashout rates for balances of less than $1,000 from about 50% to approximately 9%."

Also featured in PlanAdviser

Retirement savings are drifting across old jobs

Retirement industry titan Empower releases a new survey ("The Retirement Drift") which lays out their analysis of “left-behind” fragmented accounts and the mobile workforce. According to their survey, 34% of Americans believe they may have lost track of retirement savings from a previous employer, while 39% have assets spread across multiple employer accounts. Younger workers report the greatest difficulty, with 50% of Gen Z and 45% of Millennials saying they may have lost track of retirement assets. The article cites the Portability Services Network and auto portability as helping move forward and consolidate small-balance (<$7000) accounts following a job change.

Spencer Look and Jack VanDerhei: The Assumptions That Can Put Your Retirement at Risk

In this episode of the Morningstar podcast “The Long View” Spencer Look and Jack VanDerhei of the Morningstar Center for Retirement & Policy Studies discuss what truly drives retirement readiness in the United States and why many traditional retirement projections may overlook important risks. Addressing auto portability, VanDerhei argues that expanding access to retirement plans alone is insufficient. He specifically highlights auto portability as an increasingly accepted solution among major recordkeepers and plan sponsors because it helps preserve retirement savings by automatically moving small retirement balances into a worker’s new employer plan rather than allowing accounts to be cashed out or abandoned -- framing auto portability not as a standalone reform, but as an essential building block in a more comprehensive strategy to improve retirement adequacy across the U.S. retirement system.