Recent Developments

Fidelity 401(k) Balances Drop 23%, But Default Savings Hold

PLANSPONSOR's Alex Ortolani reports on Fidelity's press release featuring their Q3 2022 retirement analysis, and includes quotes from Kevin Barry, president of Workplace Investing at Fidelity Investments. Ortolani writes: "Fidelity’s Barry also spoke in the release to the importance of retirement savers not leaving behind savings plans when they change jobs. Just last month, the Boston-based firm joined with Vanguard and Alight to create a consortium to tackle the issue of 'cash-out leakage' from participants leaving behind small retirement accounts" and quotes Barry as stating that “[a]uto-portability can play a crucial role in increasing retirement security for these Americans."

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Fidelity® Q3 2022 Retirement Analysis: Despite Continued Volatility, Retirement Fundamentals Remain Sound

In a press release where Fidelity Investments provides their 3rd quarter 2022 retirement analysis, Kevin Barry, president of Workplace Investing at Fidelity Investments found the opportunity to address the need to stem 401(k) cashout leakage via auto portability. In the release, Barry states: "Auto-portability can play a crucial role in increasing retirement security for these Americans by automating the movement of an inactive retirement account seamlessly into the active account of a new employer’s plan, potentially preserving trillions of dollars in future savings.”

Auto-Portability Receives Bipartisan Backing with House Bill

401k Specialist's Amanda Umpierrez examines HR 9252, auto portability legislation recently introduced to the House of Representatives by Reps. Brad Schneider (D-IL) and Ron Estes (R-KS). Umpierrez turns to Renee Wilder-Guerin, RCH's EVP, Public Policy, who states: “[w]e hope that it indicates that not only do we have support for auto-portability on the Senate side, but we have support on the House, and that increases the chances of auto-portability language being included in SECURE 2.0.”

Auto-Portability Secures Bipartisan Backing in the House

NAPA Net reporter Ted Godbout analyzes the recently-introduced Advancing Auto-Portability Act of 2022 (H.R. 9252), which was proposed Oct. 28 by Reps. Brad Schneider (D-IL) and Ron Estes (R-KS), who are both members of the House Ways and Means Committee, where the legislation was referred. As Godbout points out, this companion bill to the previously-introduced Senate proposal of the same name means that auto portability legislative proposals enjoy both bicameral as well as bipartisan support.
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401(k) auto-portability bill floated in House

P&I DC reporter Brian Croce covers HR 9252 (Advancing Auto-Portability Act of 2022), introduced October 28th by Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Ill., and Rep. Ron Estes, R-Kan. The bill, writes Croce, "is a companion bill to legislation with the same name introduced in June by Sens. Tim Scott, R-S.C., and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, that's aimed at reducing plan leakage."

Large providers team up for auto portability

Writing in JD Supra, The Rosembaum Law Firm's Ary Rosenbaum observes that "Fidelity Investments, Vanguard, and Alight Solutions have teamed up 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.

House Bill Seeks Automatic Rollover Of Retirement Accounts

Writing in the legal publication Law360, reporter Jared Serre notes that the introduction of a bill (HR 9252) in the U.S. House of Representatives "would allow for the automatic rollover of savings from 401(k) accounts from one employer to another after a job change is made." The bill, which complements provisions previously introduced in U.S. Senate legislation, was co-sponsored by Rep. Ron Estes (R-KS) and Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL).

A Decade in the Making: The Retirement Industry's New 'Utility'

Ignites' Beagan Wilcox-Volz covers a lot of ground in addressing the significance of the new, industry-led 'utility' that will facilitate the nationwide expansion of auto portability. Wilcox-Volz turns to industry experts, such as Josh Gotbaum and Michael Kreps, as well as key figures directly involved in the formation of the Portability Services Network, including RCH's Spencer Williams and Neal Ringquist, Fidelity's Dave Gray and Alight Solutions' Greg Long. Wilcox-Volz also quotes an Empower "spokesperson" as being "in the early stages of due diligence around potentially joining this proposed industry consortium" and that the firm "recognizes the need in the market for auto-portability."

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