Auto Portability in the News
Browse the most comprehensive collection of articles in the media that feature auto portability.
RCH Consolidation Corner Channel Ep. 16 - Auto Portability and Cybersecurity
Welcome to another edition of the RCH Consolidation Corner Channel, where we provide you with audio content that explores key issues in the preservation and consolidation of retirement savings. In episode 16, we examine the topic of retirement savings cybersecurity, and how auto portability, through the process of consolidation, is beginning to make an important contribution. We hope you’ll find the audio enjoyable and informative.
Americans are better than ever at saving for retirement, Vanguard says
Writing in Quartz, Emily Price dissects Vanguard’s new “How America Saves 2025” report, which finds that American workers are contributing at all-time highs to their 401(k)s, thanks to smarter plan design and professional investment strategies. Despite the overall optimism, Price notes there are areas where "Americans still struggle." Price writes that job changes "continue to disrupt savings momentum, according to the report" and "rolling over 401(k) funds can be a difficult process that leads to lost accounts or cash-outs. Proposed auto-portability measures could someday help by automatically transferring retirement balances to new plans, potentially adding hundreds of thousands of dollars to a worker’s lifetime retirement wealth."
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.
RCH Consolidation Corner Channel Ep. 15 - Shining Light on Safe Harbor IRAs
Welcome to another edition of the RCH Consolidation Corner Channel, where we provide you with audio content that explores key issues in the preservation and consolidation of retirement savings. In this episode, we take the opportunity to shine some light on safe harbor IRA practices. We hope you’ll find the audio enjoyable and informative.
How Vanguard Is Helping Under-Served Americans Increase Retirement Savings
Private wealth guru Russ Alan Prince sits down with Vanguard's Steve Holman, who serves as principal and head of Vanguard’s Workplace Solutions Distribution Enablement division, and who also serves as a member of the board of directors for the Portability Services Network. The two discuss Vanguard's perspective on helping under-served retirement savers, how Vanguard came to embrace auto portability via the Portability Services Network, how auto portability has already made significant progress with plan sponsor adoption, and why Holman believes adoption is in the best interests of plan sponsors and their participants.
Come On In, The Water’s Fine
RCH’s Tom Hawkins, writing in the Consolidation Corner blog, shares his perspective on a recent public position taken by PensionBee, who drew attention to the “participant-unfriendly nature of some safe harbor IRAs” and suggested that “plan sponsors may risk breaching their fiduciary duty to plan participants by utilizing them.” Hawkins generally agrees but notes that the firm “didn’t go far enough” and offers readers with three areas of additional concerns that support this view. The piece concludes by offering plan sponsors with tips and resources to avail themselves of, should they wish to “take a hard look at their automatic rollover programs.”
RCH Consolidation Corner Channel Ep. 14 - The Risky Business of Automatic Cashouts
In this episode of the RCH Consolidation Corner Channel, we take a hard look at the “risky business” of automatically cashing out separated participant balances less than $1,000. We hope you'll find the short audio segment enjoyable and informative.
‘Forgotten’ 401(k) account fees can cost workers thousands in lost retirement savings, report finds
Contributing CNBC writer and editor Jessica Dickler's 06/07/25 piece in CNBC Money takes on the problem of 'forgotten' 401(k) accounts, defined as occurring when employees change jobs, leaving behind 401(k) balances with previous employers. After examining the topic from various perspectives, Dickler closes her piece by citing the Portability Services Network, formed in 2022 by "a group of large 401(k) plan administrators." Dickler reports that the "consortium works with defined contribution plan rollover specialist Retirement Clearinghouse on auto portability, or the automatic transfer of small-balance 401(k)s." She goes on to cite Fidelity's Mike Shamrell, vice president of thought leadership at the nation's largest provider of 401(k) plans, who maintains that the goal of auto portability "is to consolidate and maintain those retirement savings accounts, rather than cashing them out or risk losing track of them, during employment transitions."