News

Retirement: A new option for job changers

Writing in Kiplinger's Money Power, senior editor Sandra Block examines the plight of job-changing 401(k) participants, who either cash out or strand millions of retirement accounts, and identifies auto portability -- delivered via the Portability Services Network -- as a promising solution. Describing how auto portability will work, Block cites Steve Holman, a principal in Vanguard’s Institutional Investor Group, and Greg Long, head of public policy for Alight Solutions.

A (Really) Surprising Reason for High Retirement Plan Leakage

NAPA Net's John Sullivan delves into recent cashout leakage research that finds a correlation between more-generous employer matching contributions and higher incidences of leakage. Sullivan also examines auto portability, turning to RCH president & CEO Spencer Williams, who addresses the Portability Services Network (PSN), a newly-formed "independent entity that acts as a utility" to foster adoption of the new automatic feature. Williams provides updates on PSN's recordkeeper membership, and states: "[w]e expect to have the beginnings of reportable activity by the end of the year.”

Why TIAA is Teaming Up With Four Other RKers

The 401kWire's Neil Anderson interviews TIAA spokesperson Lizzie Anderson, who explains why TIAA elected to join the Portability Services Network as the fifth recordkeeping member. Anderson placed the move in the context of closing the retirement savings gap, and indicated that "this industry consortium enabling auto portability is an important step toward helping more Americans hold on to their money during their professional journeys." Anderson also cited EBRI and RCH data indicating the prevalence of job-changing and the lack of seamless plan-to-plan savings portability as key factors driving the need for auto portability.

Cashing out 401(k) accounts: the new retirement crisis

Lynnley Browning, managing editor of Financial-Planning.com, writes about the "new retirement crisis" represented by surging cashout leakage. Browning cites data from the Savings Preservation Working Group, from EBRI and from Retirement Clearinghouse to give readers a sense of the magnitude of the problem, where "[m]illions of Americans are paying billions of dollars a year in taxes by cashing out their 401(k) accounts as they change jobs, an immediate financial hit that sets them up for leaner times in retirement." Browning goes on to cite recent Fidelity research identifying a "danger zone" of cashouts between ages 30-39, and notes the recent formation of the Portability Services Network, focused on the nationwide implementation of auto portability.

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Financial literacy can close the minority wealth gap for retirement savings

In observance of Financial Literacy Month, RCH and PSN President & CEO Spencer Williams offers Employee Benefit News readers his perspective on how “members of the retirement services industry have an opportunity to contemplate how they can help empower more people to achieve a financially secure retirement. ” Williams notes that plan sponsors and recordkeepers have a vital role in preventing premature 401(k) cashouts via education about their detrimental effects as well as through auto portability, which will allow them “to transport and consolidate their accounts instead.”

Secure 2.0 Creates an Important Opportunity to Improve Retirement Savings Portability

Writing for Georgetown University's Center for Retirement Initiatives (CRI), retirement and investment expert Catherine Reilly assesses the impact of recent policy reforms, including the passage of the SECURE 2.0 Act in December 2022, which "provide an opportunity to significantly improve retirement savings portability to the benefit of participants, employers, and retirement plan providers." Reilly notes the pitfalls facing retirement savers trying to build wealth, including the difficulties in consolidating multiple retirement savings accounts, which increases the prevalence of cashing out. Reilly notes the formation of the industry-led Portability Services Network, along with provisions of SECURE 2.0 that provide a safe harbor for adopting auto portability, and concludes with a call-to-action, writing: "Now is the time for the U.S. to get it done. Facilitating portability and account consolidation are two of the most important ways to boost retirement savings and enhance the effectiveness of current and future policy reforms."

Corporate Roundup: TIAA and RCH Consortium, Upwise and Savi Collaboration

Writing in the weekly Corporate Roundup feature for 401k Specialist, Amanda Umpierrez recaps the 4/4/23 announcement from TIAA that it is joining the Portability Services Network (PSN), an industry-led consortium of recordkeepers formed to accelerate the adoption of auto portability. Umpierrez includes quotes from Thasunda Brown Duckett, president & CEO of TIAA, as well as RLJ Companies, PSN and RCH Chairman Robert L. Johnson.

30th Anniversary: Plan Access

In PLANSPONSOR's March-April online magazine, reporter Debbie Carlson chronicles the key regulatory developments that have provided employees with greater workplace retirement savings plan access. Carlson devotes a section to auto portability, providing readers with a timeline of key events dating back to 2001, when EGTRRA spawned automatic rollovers, as well as more contemporary developments surrounding the formation of the Portability Services Network (PSN). Carlson turns to RCH executives Spencer Williams and Neal Ringquist, who supply projections for the expansion of PSN's network. Also supporting auto portability's efficacy in stemming cashout leakage is Morningstar's Jack VanDerhei, a respected retirement researcher and formerly of EBRI.

Also featured in the PLANSPONSOR March-April Magazine Edition