Auto Portability in the News
Browse the most comprehensive collection of articles in the media that feature auto portability.
SECURE 2.0 Adoption Trends: Plan Sponsors Lean Into Enhanced Catch-Up Contributions
Writing in 401k Specialist, Editor-in-Chief Brian Anderson offers insights into Vanguard's analysis of SECURE 2.0 adoption trends by their plan sponsor clients. With respect to auto portability adoption, Anderson writes that "the new analysis also shows auto portability is gaining traction" -- referencing the Vanguard analysis which found that "7% of its plans had adopted" the feature by year-end 2025. Anderson notes that this "comes on the heels of other recordkeepers announcements" and cites a November 2025 report by Fidelity indicating that more than one-third of its 26,500 plans have already adopted auto portability. Anderson adds that "[a]uto portability offers a structural solution to retirement savings leakage -- an issue policymakers have long targeted."
Plan Sponsors Warm Up to Super Catch-Up
PLANSPONSOR's Emily Boyle reviews a 2/10/26 Fiduciary & Regulatory Insights report from Vanguard's Jeffrey Clark, which examines optional provisions of SECURE 2.0 that are beginning to take hold with their plan sponsor clients. Boyle writes that the Vanguard analysis concludes that, "[b]y year-end 2025, 7% of plans had adopted auto-portability," and quoted Clark's piece as characterizing the results as "a modest step with significant long-term potential.”
Retirement Readiness Improves, But Long-Term Concerns Remain
Writing in RoughNotes.com and covering a recent Harkin Institute Symposium, Thomas McCoy, CLU, discusses the "macro-view of workers’ prospects for retirement security" and see reasons for optimism. McCoy cites remarks made by Kelly Hahn, Vanguard’s head of retirement research, whose firm is a member of the Portability Services Network and supports auto portability for their plan sponsor clients. Hahn suggested that auto portability could eventually play a role in preserving saving rates when an employee enrolls in a new employer's plan. Also attending was Groom Law Group's Michael Kreps, who remarked that auto portability was a solution for cashout leakage and for minimizing small balances left behind at former employers.
Defined Contribution Top Trends for 2026: What Plan Sponsors Need to Get Right
In their forward-looking article noting the key issues that plan sponsors need to "get right" for 2026, TheAdviserMagazine outlines the top trends for the year. Focusing on regulatory and compliance issues, the authors write: "plan sponsors should be aware of two key initiatives: automatic portability and the Retirement Savings Lost and Found Database. Both are designed to help participants maintain or reclaim retirement savings as they transition between jobs throughout their career."
Andy Reed: Inertia Is the Most Powerful Force in Behavioral Finance
Andy Reed, Vanguard’s head of behavioral economics research, is the featured guest on Morningstar's "The Long View" podcast, and offers his hosts his expert views on how investors think, feel, and make decisions. During the discussion, the conversation turns to the topic of cashout leakage, where Reed states: "I think auto-portability is a really compelling solution to this problem.....being able to move your pockets of money from one plan to another can be really powerful in kind of maintaining that saving and investing momentum."
Generation Beta: first Americans to save for retirement at birth
Writing in Employee Benefit News, RCH President & CEO Spencer Williams examines the phenomenon of Generation Beta, the first Americans "who will start saving for their retirement when they are born" - by virtue of their qualifying to receive federally-funded Trump Accounts. Williams further observes that "[w]hen recipients of Trump Accounts turn 18, those accounts are eligible to be rolled in to their employer’s 401(k) plan" and sees opportunities for "digital, paperless account portability" to facilitate the consolidation of these balances and allowing for their ongoing growth.
401(k) Real Talk Episode 179: January 7, 2026
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 identifies for his viewership the top five news items "worth reading/listening/noting" and, at the top of Barstein's list is the December 16, 2025 announcement from Retirement Clearinghouse (RCH) that the firm had surpassed $20B in total account consolidations.
2025: A Breakthrough Year for Portability
Writing in 401k Specialist, RCH’s Tom Hawkins looks back on 2025, when three important developments emerged related to the topic of retirement savings portability. Taken together, Hawkins asserts that these developments represent a “breakthrough year for portability” and that “the pattern from 2025 is clear: retirement savings portability—especially for small-balance accounts—is becoming a more central element of plan design discussions."
1916 Ayrsley Town Boulevard