Media Coverage

How 401(k) Auto Portability Boosts Women's Retirement Savings

Writing in Kiplinger, RCH and PSN President Spencer Williams offers readers his views on the potential benefits of auto portability for women. While women face significant disparities in earnings, Williams notes that those disparities also drive a "lower amount of retirement benefits women earn compared to men" and cites research suggesting that "over the course of a generation, 116 million women will cash out nearly $290 billion in retirement savings." Conversely, if auto portability were widely adopted, Williams writes that "111 million women would preserve $753 billion (measured in today’s dollars) in our nation’s retirement system."

What Do PSCAers Want From Washington?

The 401kWire's Neal Anderson reports from the PSCA National Conference, where influential plan sponsor members attended a "build-a-bill" session, where they were live-polled on the things that they would like to see come out of Washington. 64% of those sponsors who were polled indicated that they would like to see an "auto-portability mandate" emanate from federal lawmakers.

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Beyond Missing: Targeting Unresponsive Participants in Retirement Plans

Writing in the RCH Consolidation Corner blog, Tom Hawkins examines the phenomenon of ‘unresponsive’ participants, which he defines as participants “for whom a plan has correct contact information, but who fail to respond to plan communications.” This sub-set of missing participants presents plan sponsors with unique challenges, because “the challenge is not finding them – it’s engaging them.” Hawkins continues by identifying six major drivers of unresponsive participants, while offering plan sponsors six best practices to minimize them.

RCH Consolidation Corner Channel Ep. 9 - Four Important Reasons to Adopt Auto Portability

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 will give plan sponsors four compelling reasons why they should adopt auto portability. We hope you’ll find the audio enjoyable and informative.

On Earth Day, Consider Auto Portability to ‘Recycle’ 401(k) Savings

Writing in 401k Specialist, RCH's Tom Hawkins takes the opportunity to observe the 55th Annual Earth Day and to consider how the concept of recycling applies to our nation’s 401(k) system. Hawkins characterizes the 401(k) system 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).

RCH Consolidation Corner Channel Ep. 8 - The Transformative Benefits of Consolidation

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. Today, we’ll be exploring the magic of retirement savings consolidation and its transformative benefits to participants, to plan sponsors and to our defined contribution system. We hope you’ll find the audio enjoyable and informative.

401(k) retirement saving hits a milestone. Has it finally caught on?

USA Today's personal finance reporter Daniel de Visé examines a milestone for America's 401(k) system -- where "half of all workers in private-sector America now participate in 401(k) plans, a sign that tax-advantaged retirement savings may be catching on at last." In his piece, de Visé extensively quotes David Stinnett, head of strategic retirement consulting at Vanguard and examines recent, bipartisan retirement legislation (SECURE 2.0) which codified auto portability. de Visé summarizes the key features of auto portability, while acknowledging the ascendance of the Portability Services Network (PSN) by writing: "in 2022, a consortium of private retirement-plan providers announced a collaboration to boost the portability of small retirement accounts."

401k Real Talk Episode 148: April 16, 2025

In his recurring 401(k) Real Talk video series, Fred Barstein, Founder & CEO of The Retirement Adviser University (TRAU), covers the major 401(k) topics of interest to plan advisors. In this episode, Barstein reports on the December 2024 announcement from the Portability Services Network (PSN) regarding plan sponsor adoption. Barstein hails the accomplishment and gives substantial credit to "the Retirement Clearinghouse, led by Spencer Williams, [who] was the driving force behind the network" while individually naming each of PSN's member recordkeepers, adding that "membership is open to all recordkeepers."