News

Here’s how Congress wants to combat early withdrawals from retirement accounts

Writing for MarketWatch, retirement reporter Alessandro Malito covers the 10/28/21 U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging's hearing for “A Financially Secure Future: Building a Stronger Retirement System for All Americans” which focused on the problem of early withdrawals (leakage) and how solutions such as auto portability can help. Malito reported on comments provided by Ranking Member Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) on cashout leakage and his support for auto portability, as well as Committee testimony provided by RCH President & CEO Spencer Williams, directly quoting his testimony: “we need to make it super easy because every time someone changes jobs, they’re faced with a decision, particularly at the low end.”

Breaking down two recent announcements by Vanguard and BlackRock

In Wealth Management, noted freelance writer Ed McCarthy examines retirement industry developments he believes are worth monitoring, and notes the 9/21/21 news that Vanguard is "teaming up with Retirement Clearinghouse for auto-portability of small balance 401(k) accounts." McCarthy goes on to cite relevant research into cashout leakage, including Vanguard's own How America Saves 2021, and refers readers to an RCH Auto Portability infographic. With Vanguard's announcement coming on the heels of the 2020 announcement from Alight Solutions, McCarthy states that "the Auto Portability program’s potential reach will extend considerably."

Ask an Adviser: How can I best help plan participants who are about to retire?

Writing in Employee Benefit News' Ask An Adviser feature section, RCH President & CEO Spencer Williams responds to advisers who want to know how they can "help plan participants who are nearing retirement prepare for their spend down by gathering all their qualified savings in one place?" Williams suggests that advisers first focus on helping participants identify all of their various retirement savings accounts accumulated over their career, and proceed to utilize their recordkeeper (if their service is unbiased) or refer them to an external service provider who can quickly facilitate the consolidation of balances into their current, active plan.

Michael Kreps of Groom Law: Cool Things You Might Not Know

In her ongoing Thought Leadership series, Lisa Massena of Massena Associates interviews Groom Law Group's retirement public policy expert Michael Kreps to identify next level, breaking policy matters that industry followers should be paying attention to. During the 1-on-1 conversation, Kreps singles out auto portability as "a really cool thing" that he believes "is the most important thing that is happening right now." Auto portability, explains Kreps, addresses a "lack of infrastructure" that preserves retirement savings and results in having "money follow you from plan A to your new plan B."

Vanguard moves to automatically transfer small 401(k) balances

Writing in MarketWatch, Alicia Munnell, Director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College celebrates the news that Vanguard will offer RCH Auto Portability to their plan sponsor clients and participants, stating: "[t]his is a win for Vanguard and its customers, for Retirement Clearinghouse, which has been working on this project for many years, and for the retirement system as a whole" -- adding "[t]his initiative should dramatically reduce leakages and increase 401(k) balances." An astute observer of trends in the retirement sector, Munnell recounts the history of auto portability, from inception to regulatory approvals to its present state, where recordkeepers are now confidently adopting the financial technology. Munnell closes her piece writing: "it is lovely to see a win for the 401(k) system."

Also featured by TD Ameritrade and Morningstar

Top 5 Misconceptions About 401k Auto-Portability

Auto portability is a new “automatic” plan feature that is rapidly gaining acceptance by large defined contribution recordkeepers serving almost 10 million participants. While the feature is relatively new, it has received a great deal of attention in the media and has also been the beneficiary of definitive regulatory guidance, promulgated by the Department of Labor (DOL). Despite this, significant misconceptions persist about auto portability, and the top five are presented in 401k Specialist Magazine by RCH's Tom Hawkins, including a link to a short video.

Auto Portability Breaks New Ground

Writing for 401kTV.com, Steff Chalk, Executive Director of The Retirement Advisor University (TRAU), notes the recent 9/21/21 announcement by Vanguard and states that "[a]uto portability is gaining ground because of its benefits — the ability to proactively impact cash-out leakage, missing participants and abandoned 401(k) accounts. While the Vanguard/RCH auto portability solution is relatively new, it has the potential to help move the industry forward while simplifying plan administration and improving compliance."

Vanguard Group becomes the second domino to fall

RIABiz's Lisa Shidler conducts an in-depth examination of the important ramifications of the Vanguard Group's 9/21/21 announcement that it will offer the RCH auto portability solution to its clients and their participants. Shidler reaches out to a host of industry experts for their views, which are uniformly supportive of auto portability, and states that other recordkeepers, such as Fidelity "may yet see the wisdom" in adopting the feature. Shidler also extensively quotes RCH President & CEO Spencer Williams for the piece.