Collaborating with Retirement Clearinghouse, Boston Research Technologies completed groundbreaking research earlier this year on the mobile workforce and the job changer’s attitudes and behavior regarding their 401(k) accounts during job transition. When asked what these participants did with their prior employer 401(k) accounts, the majority of respondents indicated they left their balances behind with 53% of Millennials, the most mobile age cohort, indicating they had left at least one retirement account with their prior employer.
Leaving retirement accounts with a prior employer can lead to bad outcomes. While the move may be a smart one for participants leaving a large company with a well-structured plan and low cost investment alternatives, even good intentions can lead to bad outcomes if the participant doesn’t keep their prior employers up-to-date on their address changes. Retirement Clearinghouse CEO Spencer Williams, a regular contributor to MarketWatch as a MarketWatch Retirementor retirement advice expert, published an excellent blog post this month outlining some of the pitfalls associated with lost and missing participants titled, 'Do You Feel Lucky, 401(k) Saver? Well, Do You?" For Clint Eastwood Dirty Harry fans, the article will make your day.