News

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.”

When do you get your $1,000 'Trump Account'? Answers here.

USA Today personal finance reporter Daniel de Visé provides readers with important details on Trump Accounts, a federal program that De Visé suggests "took a big leap in visibility on Super Bowl Sunday, thanks to a strategically placed ad." De Visé turns to industry stalwarts at Fidelity, Vanguard and RCH for their expert views on the new program, including RCH President & CEO Spencer Williams. Williams characterizes the Trump Accounts' overall theme as “invest in America,” and states that the novel account structure converts to "an ordinary IRA" at age 18, when "accountholders will have more freedom in how to invest the funds." Meanwhile, Williams suggests, the many potential money sources may require further clarification, and will be "sorted out over time.”

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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.

Trump administration touts $1,000 'Trump Accounts' at summit

USA Today personal finance reporter Daniel de Visé, covering the Trump Accounts Summit on Jan. 28 in Washington, DC that touts the federal program that will deposit $1,000 into savings accounts for every child born between 2025 and 2028, deposited into an IRA. De Visé turns to multiple industry experts, including RCH's Spencer Williams and Neal Ringquist. Williams offered his view that the "best-case scenario on that thousand dollars, it would be sitting in that IRA, compounding, until I retired,” while Ringquist characterized Trump Accounts as "an 18-year head start to retirement."

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Defined Contribution Top Trends for 2026: What Plan Sponsors Need to Get Right

In their forward-looking article noting the key issues that plan sponsors need to "get right" for 2026, TheAdviserMagazine outlines the top trends for the year. Focusing on regulatory and compliance issues, the authors write: "plan sponsors should be aware of two key initiatives: automatic portability and the Retirement Savings Lost and Found Database. Both are designed to help participants maintain or reclaim retirement savings as they transition between jobs throughout their career."

Andy Reed: Inertia Is the Most Powerful Force in Behavioral Finance

Andy Reed, Vanguard’s head of behavioral economics research, is the featured guest on Morningstar's "The Long View" podcast, and offers his hosts his expert views on how investors think, feel, and make decisions. During the discussion, the conversation turns to the topic of cashout leakage, where Reed states: "I think auto-portability is a really compelling solution to this problem.....being able to move your pockets of money from one plan to another can be really powerful in kind of maintaining that saving and investing momentum."

Generation Beta: first Americans to save for retirement at birth

Writing in Employee Benefit News, RCH President & CEO Spencer Williams examines the phenomenon of Generation Beta, the first Americans "who will start saving for their retirement when they are born" - by virtue of their qualifying to receive federally-funded Trump Accounts. Williams further observes that "[w]hen recipients of Trump Accounts turn 18, those accounts are eligible to be rolled in to their employer’s 401(k) plan" and sees opportunities for "digital, paperless account portability" to facilitate the consolidation of these balances and allowing for their ongoing growth.