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Episode 81: Portability Services Network Update with Neal Ringquist

In episode 81 of CAPTRUST's Revamping Retirement podcast, hosts Audrey Wheat and Peter Ruffel welcome back Neal Ringquist, EVP & Chief Revenue Officer of Retirement Clearinghouse, for a deep dive into auto portability and the Portability Services Network (PSN). Neal explains how auto portability enables seamless retirement balance transfers between employers, backed by regulatory support and a consortium of major recordkeepers. The conversation highlights key adoption metrics—over 21,000 plan sponsors enrolled and 16,700 completed transactions—and explores future applications like the Saver’s Match. The episode also clears up common misconceptions and encourages plan sponsors to engage in expanding PSN’s impact.

Safe Harbor IRAs Are Failing Participants: Report

Paul Mulholland, writing in PSCA.org, examines new research released by PensionBee that is critical of safe harbor IRAs, typically used as vehicles to house small 401(k) balances (<$7000) forced out during an automatic rollover process. While the research calls for safe harbor IRA reform, Mulholland turns to RCH EVP Neal Ringquist, who explains that reforming safe harbors is inadequate, because the automatic rollover process "leads to high participant cash outs,” and “that’s why auto portability is a better solution.”

Universal Auto-Portability Can’t Come Soon Enough

Paul Mulholland, Content Writer and Reporter for the American Retirement Association (ARA), analyzes the state of plan-to-plan portability (or perhaps the lack thereof) in America's retirement plan system. Mulholland identifies the absence of universal automatic portability, or transferring balances between retirement plans upon changing jobs, as a primary obstacle to consistent retirement saving. Mulholland takes a deep dive into multiple dimensions of the issue, identifying abuses and frustrations that can occur with safe harbor IRA providers, and turns to RCH EVP and Chief Revenue Officer Neal Ringquist and Michael Kreps, a principal at the Groom Law Group, for their insights.

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Commentary: Once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to close America’s wealth gap

Retirement Clearinghouse and Portability Services Network Chairman Robert L. Johnson, writing in Pensions & Investments, makes a compelling case for three public policy initiatives -- Auto Portability, the Saver’s Match and Trump Accounts -- that represent a chance "to reshape the trajectory of retirement savings -- and finally confront America’s stubborn wealth gap." Johnson recounts his personal journey, a timeframe which coincides with some key milestones, including the inception of America's 401(k) system, and a widening of the wealth gap. Johnson closes with a call to action, urging "public and and private sectors to seize this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to give America’s chronically under-served and under-saved workers generational wealth."

Vanguard: 42% of US Participants Are on Track to Maintain Lifestyle in Retirement

PLANSPONSOR's Emily Boyle reports on new research, released by Vanguard, which assesses the readiness of American workers for retirement. Fiona Grieg, global head of investor research and policy at Vanguard’s Investment Strategy Group, provides Boyle with highlights from the report, entitled “The Vanguard Retirement Outlook: Strong National Progress, Opportunities Ahead." Addressing DC plan design, Grieg notes that "having a recordkeeper that participates in the Portability Services Network can help reduce leakage. When an employee switches jobs, if their old and new jobs both participate, a retirement account balance less than $7,000 rolls over automatically into an active account with their new employer."

Also featured in PlanAdviser

Talking Points: Third Time No Charm in ‘Forgotten Account’ Fantasy

Retirement industry icon Nevin Adams takes to NAPA Net to write a critique of newly-released research which suggests that there are $2 trillion in 'forgotten' 401(k) accounts. In his piece, Adams systematically dismantles both the methodology and conclusions behind the report, while offering EBRI’s auto portability analysis and benefits as sensible research counter-points to the hyperbole surrounding the analysis of 'forgotten' accounts.

More Than $2T Sitting in 'Left-Behind' 401(k)s

Beagan Wilcox-Volz, writing in Ignites, examines new industry analysis projecting that $2 trillion is "left behind" in "forgotten" 401(k) accounts. In the article, Wilcox-Volz turns to Anqi Chen of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, who notes that "today there are solutions that make the process less cumbersome" -- citing increased plan sponsor adoption of auto portability via the Portability Services Network, adding that "[t]his growth is encouraging, and I think it will make workers' hard-earned retirement savings much more portable."

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How Big of a Problem Are Forgotten 401(k)s?

NAPA Net Content Writer and Reporter Paul Mulholland examines recent research released by Capitalize that identifies 31.9 million “forgotten” 401(k) accounts, totaling about $2.1 trillion, and finds the research less-than-persuasive. According to Mulholland, rather than being "forgotten" these accounts "serve as a proxy for a lack of efficient account portability." While the Capitalize research may grossly overstate the problem of "forgotten" accounts, Mulholland writes that "the growth in 'left behind' accounts is still an issue, and illustrates the inability the current system has to efficiently consolidate retirement accounts for participants."