Recent Developments

Fidelity, Vanguard and Others Team Up to Fight 401(k) Cash-Outs

ThinkAdvisor's John Manganaro reports on the news that three of the nation's largest 401(k) recordkeepers -- Fidelity, Alight and Vanguard -- are teaming up with Retirement Clearinghouse LLC to form an industry consortium that will "accelerate the nationwide adoption of automatic portability for workplace retirement accounts such as 401(k)s." Manganaro goes on to quote RCH Chairman Robert L. Johnson, who states that the collaboration is a “truly historic moment” for the retirement planning industry.

Retirement Clearinghouse teams up with 401(k) recordkeepers for under-served retirement savers

Retirement Clearinghouse (RCH) Chairman Robert L. Johnson appears on CNBC's Squawk Box to disclose breaking news that RCH is collaborating with 3 of the nation's largest 401(k) recordkeepers to create a consortium, Portability Services Network, LLC, to accelerate the nationwide adoption of auto portability. Auto portability, says Johnson, will help address America’s minority wealth gap by assisting under-served and under-saved workers improve their retirement outcomes, while the consortium will ensure that the new feature is not only rapidly adopted, but will be delivered in the most cost-effective manner possible.

Record keepers launch auto-portability consortium to reduce plan leakage

Pensions & Investments DC reporter Brian Croce reports breaking news that three of the nation's largest record keepers -- Fidelity, Alight and Vanguard -- are teaming up with Retirement Clearinghouse LLC to launch an industry-led auto-portability consortium aimed at reducing plan leakage and improving retirement outcomes. Croce's piece quotes RCH president & CEO Spencer Williams, while noting that "record keepers that own or participate in the consortium will not receive any compensation for facilitating auto portability transactions from participants."

PRESS RELEASE: America’s Leading 401(k) Providers and Retirement Clearinghouse Collaborate to Implement a Nationwide Network for Auto Portability

CHARLOTTE, October 5, 2022 -- Fidelity Investments®, Vanguard, and Alight Solutions announce that they have collaborated with Retirement Clearinghouse, LLC (RCH) to create a consortium of workplace retirement plan recordkeepers, Portability Services Network, LLC, to accelerate the nationwide adoption of auto portability to help America’s under-served and under-saved workers improve their retirement outcomes. With this historic development, American workers who change employers can have their workplace retirement savings automatically move to their new retirement plans.

Why DEI and ‘Traditional’ Automatic Rollovers Don’t Mix

When it comes to 401(k) diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, RCH’s Tom Hawkins observes broad support for expanded access and automatic features, since they “are supportive of increasing participation and asset accumulation across all demographics.” No one, writes Hawkins, points to ‘traditional’ automatic rollovers as facilitating DEI goals, as they “penalize the very demographic segments that DEI initiatives strive to uplift.” Hawkins urges plan sponsors to re-tool ‘traditional’ automatic rollover programs to include education and assistance and to incorporate auto portability – delivering more equitable retirement outcomes for under-saved and under-served participants.

3 Ways 401k Plan Sponsors Can Boost Participant Awareness

Writing in 401k Specialist, RCH's Tom Hawkins draws attention to National Financial Awareness Day, which falls on August 14th. In his piece, Hawkins offers plan sponsors 3 steps they can take to increase financial awareness. Plan sponsors who follow these steps, asserts Hawkins, "won’t simply produce more awareness in the minds of their participants, they’ll generate quantifiable results, coming in the form of decreased cashouts, higher levels of consolidation and average plan balances, as well as a lower incidence of missing participants."

Nevin & Fred: EARN, RISE & SHINE, Auto-Portability & the Way(s) Forward

In their ongoing podcast series featured in NAPA Net, American Retirement Association Chief Content Officer Nevin Adams and ERISA fiduciary expert Fred Reish discuss the latest retirement public policy initiatives to emanate from Washington, DC. In their discussion, Adams and Reish focus extensively on the Senate's Enhancing American Retirement Now (EARN) Act of 2022. The podcast's hosts go in-depth on the bill's auto portability provisions, which they view highly favorably, and Adams supplies listeners with an excellent overview of how auto portability works.

New bill would automatically roll 401ks to new jobs

Writing in Yahoo News, reporter Thomas Gnau addresses the bipartisan “Advancing Auto Portability Act of 2022,” introduced by Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Tim Scott, R-S.C. The legislation, Gnau writes, takes aim at "retirement plan leakage" and "aims to make it easier for workers to take 401K retirement accounts with them to new jobs." The piece quotes Sen. Brown, as well as RCH founder, president & CEO Spencer Williams.

Also featured in the Dayton Daily News and the Journal-News (Butler County)