Consolidation Corner

Clearly, Washington DC is now “getting it” when it comes to retirement plan portability. 

In November 2015, Senator Patty Murray and other influential members of Congress delivered a letter to Department of Labor Secretary Perez urging action on Auto Portability. Now, we have strong comments from President Obama in his final State Of The Union address on the need for more portable retirement savings.

In his December 1, 2015 article (The unintended consequence of 401(k) auto-enrollment), RCH CEO Spencer Williams exposes the linkage between auto enrollment and lower average account balances.  Based on Form 5500 data, Williams’ analysis presents some excellent examples of industries where average balances are significantly lower in plans that have adopted auto enrollment compared to plans that haven’t. 

In his December 16^th, 2015 article in MarketWatch, RCH’s CEO Spencer Williams offers a year-end checklist for those retirement savers who’ve elected to leave qualified retirement savings accounts behind with their former employers.

In his December 11^th article in BenefitsPro (Addressing the Critical Problem of 401(k) Cash Outs), Nick Thornton draws much-needed attention to the magnitude of the 401(k) cash out leakage issue, due to the frictions associated with account portability when plan participants switch jobs. Thornton’s article rightly emphasizes the need for automated portability – similar to automatic enrollment and deferral increases - to effectively address the cash out problem. 

 With attention-grabbing headlines about major security breaches occurring almost daily, plan sponsors need to be assured that their service providers are on guard 24-7, protecting sensitive information and intellectual property, wherever it may reside.

Auto enrollment, codified in law by the Pension Protection Act of 2006, was drafted with the best of intentions—to increase Americans’ retirement savings—but it has had the unintended consequence of impairing plan effectiveness. By proliferating small accounts in plans, auto enrollment has caused a decrease in average account balances throughout the U.S. retirement system. Adding to the urgency of this issue is the rising rate of auto enrollment adoption across defined contribution plans of all sizes, but particularly among larger plans.

In his 11/16/15 MarketWatch article Boomers need to consolidate retirement accounts immediately RCH President & CEO J. Spencer Williams notes that the baby boomer generation, which is closest to retirement age, stands to benefit the most from consolidating their retirement savings, vs. leaving their accounts behind at former employers.

Chris Garza, RCH’s Service and Consolidation Team Manager, provides insight into the top five mistakes that participants make when changing jobs.

Every day, we’re reminded that recycling is the responsible thing to do:  from the recycling bins we walk by, to the paper we use, and the cans and bottles that we drink from.   All of us would agree that conservation of our precious resources is critical, so we gladly pitch in and do our part.

We humans are not islands. Everything we do affects the people, neighborhoods and ecosystems around us in some way. One act of kindness for another person can inspire the recipient to perform a good deed for someone else, and through a ripple effect, many others can benefit.