News

Auto Portability: Meeting the Needs AND Wants of Participants

When American workers change jobs, the fate of their retirement savings is often left hanging in the balance – especially for those with accounts less than $7,000. But today, with the continuing adoption of auto portability via the Portability Services Network, the story is changing. Auto portability is now beginning to address the most pressing needs of small-balance participants: reducing cashout leakage, automating consolidation, and making the preservation of retirement savings the default, “easiest choice” – while also closely aligning with what participants want, as revealed in multiple, authoritative surveys.

Previously featured in RCH's Consolidation Corner

Regulatory Roundup: Auto Portability

In this video episode of Fidelity's Regulatory Roundup, show host Tre Hearn and guest Katie Hutchinson, VP, Defined Contribution Product Platforms, dive into Auto Portability -- the game-changing solution that helps workers by simplifying the rollover process of their retirement savings when switching jobs. Topics covered in the video include:

• 00:18 What happens when a worker changes jobs and doesn't rollover their retirement savings to their new employer?
• 01:03 Which workers does this affect most?
• 01:17 Does the SECURE 2.0 Act provide a solution for workers moving jobs?
• 01:42 The Portability Services Network and Auto Portability
• 03:00 How do employers benefit from joining the Portability Services Network?

DOL Reg Agenda Includes New ESG, Fiduciary Rules, SECURE 2.0 Guidance

Writing in NAPA Net, Content Writer & Reporter Paul Mulholland covers the publication by the Department of Labor (DOL) of their updated Spring 2025 regulatory agenda, with approximately 20 guidance projects under the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) that are either in the pre-, proposed, or final rule stage. Of those projects, Mulholland notes "[t]he agenda indicated that the DOL will finalize a rule on auto-portability by Jan. 2026. It did not indicate if it would build on the Biden administration’s proposal from Jan. 2024."

Also featured in ASPPA Net

How Empower Is Helping To Strengthen Retirement Plan Portability

Financial advisor and private wealth guru Russ Alan Prince interviews Empower's Dave Gray, executive vice president of the firm's Enterprise Solutions group and a founding board member of the Portability Services Network (PSN). Prince and Gray engage in a wide-ranging discussion concerning the key role that is being played by auto portability, as delivered by PSN. In their discussion, Gray is an unabashed advocate of auto portability, and notes that "over 11,000 of the plans we work with have signed up" for the innovative service already, and adds that "as more time goes by, and due diligence is completed, we are seeing more and more large plan sponsors become comfortable enough as fiduciaries to add the auto portability service to their plans."

Retirement Planning In 2025: What’s On People’s Minds

Contributor Jamie Hopkins takes stock of the state of retirement planning in 2025, noting the "shaky" sentiment amongst retirement savers, while offering those savers four "smart moves" to consider as they continue their retirement journey. Included in Hopkins' recommendations is wise advice to "consolidate your accounts" so that "changing jobs over the years [does not] leave you with scattered retirement accounts." To support consolidation, Hopkins observes that "new services like 'Auto Portability' are making this even simpler for small balances."

Big Beautiful Bill Offers $1K of Free Cash

Men's Journal trending news writer Anne Erickson writes about the new Trump Accounts, slated to commence in July 2026, and funding $1,000 IRA accounts for all newborn children born in the years 2025-2028. The article draws heavily from an earlier piece by USA Today personal finance writer Daniel de Visé, and includes expert opinion from RCH President & CEO Spencer Williams, and from RCH EVP & Chief Revenue Officer Neal Ringquist. Williams characterizes the "best case scenario" for Trump Account holders as preserving "that thousand dollars... sitting in that IRA, compounding" until retirement, while Ringquist describes the new financial vehicles as "an 18-year head start to retirement."

'Trump Accounts' are $1k of free money. Here's how to claim it.

USA Today personal finance reporter Daniel de Visé covers the topic of Trump Accounts, enabled by the One Big Beautiful Bill legislation, and providing children born 2025-2028 with a gift of $1000, deposited into an IRA. De Visé turns to multiple industry experts, including RCH's Spencer Williams and Neal Ringquist. Williams described the "best case scenario" as having "that thousand dollars... sitting in that IRA, compounding" until retirement, while Ringquist characterized Trump Accounts as "an 18-year head start to retirement."

Also featured in MSN.com, Yahoo! Finance, and numerous local media outlets

New Research Shines Light on Saver’s Match Potential

Writing in 401k Specialist Magazine, Tom Hawkins puts two recent Saver’s Match research findings – one from Morningstar and the other from RCH – into perspective. The Morningstar research, authored by industry veteran Jack VanDerhei and Spencer Look, pegs the potential incremental retirement wealth generated by the Saver’s Match at $2.03 trillion. Another research effort, conducted by Retirement Clearinghouse, involves a discrete event simulation model of the Saver’s Match program, simulating specific technologies and operational solutions required to support the program. Together, writes Hawkins, “these two new research efforts…quantify overall Saver’s Match program benefits, and model the potential size, scale and operations of the program.”

Previously featured in the RCH Consolidation Corner Blog