Media Coverage

A Renaissance for Auto Enrollment

Writing in 401k Specialist, Tom Hawkins examines the past, present and potential future of automatic enrollment, the popular 401(k) plan feature that has made great strides since 2007, but has faced headwinds in achieving adoption in high-turnover enterprises. Now, thanks to a SECURE 2.0 mandate for new plans, along with the retirement industry's embrace of auto portability, auto enrollment may soon undergo a "renaissance" and enter its final phase of growth, delivering disproportionate benefits to under-saved and under-served workers, including minorities, women and those with lower incomes.

Previously featured in the RCH Consolidation Corner blog

A Renaissance for Auto Enrollment

Writing in the RCH Consolidation Corner blog, Tom Hawkins examines the past, present and potential future of automatic enrollment, the popular 401(k) plan feature that has made great strides since 2007, but has faced headwinds in achieving adoption in high-turnover enterprises. Now, thanks to a SECURE 2.0 mandate for new plans, along with the retirement industry's embrace of auto portability, auto enrollment may soon undergo a "renaissance" and enter its final phase of growth, delivering disproportionate benefits to under-saved and under-served workers, including minorities, women and those with lower incomes.

Too Many Employees Cash Out Their 401(k)s When Leaving a Job

Writing in the Harvard Business Review, a research team comprised of academics John G. Lynch, Yanwen Wang, and Muxin Zhai described their findings on the problem of 401(k) cashout leakage. The study (Cashing Out Retirement Savings at Job Separation) lines up with previous research, determining that 41.4% of participants prematurely cashed out their retirement savings after exiting a job, paying taxes and penalties. The team also observed that, following a job change, former employees face bureaucratic and psychological challenges, receiving form letters that effectively "turn psychologically illiquid retirement savings into a source of ready cash." Finally, the team commended the "new auto portability initiative by Retirement Clearinghouse" for plan sponsors "served by major financial services firms like Vanguard, Alight, and Fidelity."

Also featured in the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM)

A no-brainer retirement benefit advisers can bring to their clients

Writing in Employee Benefit News, Spencer Williams, CEO of Portability Services Network (PSN) and Retirement Clearinghouse (RCH), makes a compelling case for plan advisers to help facilitate the roll-out of auto portability to the plan sponsors and participants they serve. Williams cites two recent headline-grabbing events -- the passage of SECURE 2.0, which incorporates provisions for auto portability, and the October 2022 formation of PSN to function as an industry utility for transferring balances from plan-to-plan. As both participants and plan sponsors stand to realize tremendous benefits from the adoption of auto portability, it "presents an easy opportunity for financial advisors" who will be "able to demonstrate value for their clients – and, in the process, grow their practices."

DOL's priorities include SECURE 2.0, ESG rule, EBSA head says

P&I reporter Courtney Degen briefs readers on the Department of Labor's 2023 priorities, as articulated on Tuesday, 2/28/23 by Lisa Gomez, assistant secretary of labor for EBSA, and which Degen indicates will "include implementing SECURE 2.0 and its new ESG rule, while aiming to improve communication with plan participants and beneficiaries." Degen writes that "[t]he retirement security package, which Congress passed in late December, directs the Labor Department to help implement various provisions, including one that codifies the auto-portability process into law."

Assistant Secretary Gomez Explains Upcoming EBSA Priorities

PLANSPONSOR's Paul Mulholland covers the address made by Lisa Gomez, the assistant Secretary of Labor for the Employee Benefits Security Administration, to the National Institute on Retirement Security’s Retirement Policy Conference on Tuesday, 2/28/23. In the address, Mulholland writes that Gomez addressed the DOL's key priorities resulting from passage of the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022, and that Gomez included references to auto portability.

5 Most Meaningful Provisions of SECURE 2.0

Writing in 401k Specialist, Northern Trust's Lee Freitag offers his take on the five most meaningful provisions included in SECURE 2.0 legislation. Making Freitag's top 5 list is auto portability, which he writes will "provide plan sponsors [with] services to effectuate transfers to the employees' new plan, making it less likely workers will forget about balances left behind when they change jobs."

401(k) Real Talk Episode 48: February 22, 2023

Fred Barstein, in his recurring 401(k) Real Talk series, addresses timely and important developments in the 401(k) industry. Barstein notes the 2/13/23 announcement by Empower, joining the Portability Services Network (PSN). Barstein states: "all told, the group administers a stunning 60.8 million accounts and 118,000 plans," while adding: "the impact should have much more far-reaching effects by establishing an industry-accepted data exchange which could facilitate other participant services."