Media Coverage

How Auto Portability Serves Participants’ Best Interests - Part 2: An Enhanced Standard of Participant Care

In the second installment of his five-part series "How Auto Portability Serves Participants' Best Interests", RCH's Tom Hawkins examines how auto portability, by extending and enhancing elements of automatic rollovers, establishes a new standard of participant care. Auto portability, writes Hawkins, protects participants by: 1) minimizing time spent in a safe harbor IRA, 2) eliminating the need to cash out balances less than $1,000, 3) enhancing participant communication, 4) formally integrating a robust address location search and 5) establishing a transparent, simple & straightforward fee structure.

2018 in review - ERISA guidance

Writing in Lexology, Eversheds Sutherland LLP provides a retrospective of guidance issued in 2018 by the Department of Labor (DOL) under ERISA, highlighting the DOL's sole 2018 Advisory Opinion, which addressed the RCH Auto Portability program. Linking to their earlier analysis of the Advisory Opinion, the authors further speculate on the DOL's motives, stating that "auto portability offers a means to advance the important policy goal of preserving and improving the efficiency of retirement savings, which may account for DOL’s willingness to engage on this issue."

5 ways to check if your automatic rollover program needs an upgrade

In his monthly column for Employee Benefits News, RCH Founder, President & CEO Spencer Williams offers plan sponsors a five-point checklist for automatic rollover programs, shining light on features that may require attention, particularly in light of the recent DOL guidance on auto portability.

5 Ways to Check if Your ARO Program Needs an Upgrade

RCH Founder, President & CEO Spencer Williams offers plan sponsors a five-point checklist for automatic rollover programs, shining light on features that may require attention, particularly in light of the recent DOL guidance on auto portability.

How Auto Portability Serves Participants’ Best Interests - Part 1: Dramatically Improved Participant Outcomes

Auto Portability: Preventer of 401k 'Leakage'

401kSpecialist's Brian Anderson finds a lot to like about auto portability in EBRI's Issue Brief No. 473, which compares outcomes of participants in 401k plans with auto-enrollment against defined benefit plans. The research, says Anderson, shows "how auto-portability in 401k plans could positively impact the retirement security for millions of job-changing Americans by preventing 401k plan leakage before it can occur." Anderson continues, writing: "[t]he concept of auto-portability is a darling of major retirement industry associations, and it’s not hard to see why."

2019 Retirement Outlook and Investment Insights Features Auto Portability

In PLANSPONSOR's Industry Voices, Jonathan Barry, senior retirement strategist at MFS Investment Management, discusses key trends retirement plan sponsors may expect to see in 2019, the issues they may face and offers his thoughts on how to address them. Turning to auto portability, Barry states that recent advances represent an "important step that will help with the issue of 'disrupted journeys,' which has become increasingly prevalent with more Americans working multiple jobs over their career."

BenefitsPRO: Auto-portability boosts 401(k) results in new EBRI research

In his 2/19/19 article in BenefitsPRO, RCH's Tom Hawkins examines new research, authored by EBRI Research Director Jack VanDerhei, Ph.D., comparing the retirement income generated by 401(k) plans with auto enrollment against defined benefit (DB) plans. While EBRI's primary objective was to address growing concern over the relative decline of DB plans, the study also identified significant, incremental benefits of auto portability, adding to a growing body of research from EBRI demonstrating that auto portability increases retirement security for 401(k) participants.