Media Coverage

Small 401(k)s may automatically follow workers to their next job — except Roth money

Writing for CBNC, personal finance reporter Sarah Agostino examines the plan-to-plan portability afforded by auto portability, as delivered by the Portability Services Network, and highlights a gap that does not permit Roth funds to move through the system. Agostino turns to RCH EVP Neal Ringquist, who provides an overview of some key auto portability metrics, including consolidations, plans adopted and the number of active participants currently served by the network. Regarding Roth balance limitations, Ringquist states: “we are hoping this restriction is addressed by legislation or regulators soon, as it would open up additional accounts that can take advantage of auto-portability, particularly those in state-based auto-IRA programs.”

Also featured in MSN Money

How to Build Out the Auto Portability Clearinghouse Our Retirement System Demands

On March 5, 2025, Retirement Clearinghouse (RCH) released a landmark whitepaper – Building Out Clearinghouse Services for the U.S. Retirement System: A Blueprint for a Digital Infrastructure. Writing in NAPA Net, RCH's Tom Hawkins summarizes the high-level, compelling case for expanding the set of clearinghouse services beyond auto portability, and explains why this initiative is absolutely required in order to "create a retirement ecosystem that does what it should have done all along: protect workers’ savings as they move through their careers, not lose them along the way."

Previously featured in RCH's Consolidation Corner blog; also featured in PSCA News

Building Out the Clearinghouse Our Retirement System Demands

On March 5, 2025, Retirement Clearinghouse (RCH) released a landmark whitepaper – Building Out Clearinghouse Services for the U.S. Retirement System: A Blueprint for a Digital Infrastructure. In this article, RCH's Tom Hawkins, a co-author of the paper, summarizes the high-level, compelling case for expanding the set of clearinghouse services beyond auto portability, and explains why this initiative is absolutely required in order to "create a retirement ecosystem that does what it should have done all along: protect workers’ savings as they move through their careers, not lose them along the way."

RCH Proposes ‘Digital Clearinghouse’ to Modernize Retirement Infrastructure

Writing in NAPA Net, Ted Godbout addresses the newly-released whitepaper from Retirement Clearinghouse (Building Out Clearinghouse Services for the U.S. Retirement System: A Blueprint for a Digital Infrastructure), which "details how a 'neutral, digital clearinghouse' can reduce retirement plan cash‑outs and the number of dormant accounts, all while enabling seamless interoperability across recordkeepers, custodians, and government programs." Godbout writes "[t]he clearinghouse concept would be modeled after the firm’s Auto Portability Network, but expanded to include additional functionality, such as a Saver’s Match Network, Auto Locate Network, and Digital Rollover Network."

Kelsey’s (K)orner: Cool Runnings and Auto Portability — How We Smooth the Track

Kelsey Mayo, Chief of Retirement Policy & Regulatory Affairs for the American Retirement Association (ARA), authors a piece in NAPA Net, addressing potential improvements that would "smooth the track" for auto portability, including allowing the portability of Roth balances, explicitly including sub-$1,000 balances and "expanding the parameters" to include balances greater than $7,000. Mayo closes by writing: "[a]uto portability is directionally correct. Leakage remains a very real threat—and this is meaningful progress."

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.