The problem of missing participants in employer-sponsored retirement plans is one of the most important, yet perplexing issues facing plan sponsors, and for good reason.

Ensuring that participants (or their beneficiaries) receive their benefits is the essence of an employer’s fiduciary responsibility – and missing or unresponsive participants who become separated from those benefits can generate significant risks for plan fiduciaries.

You don’t need me to remind you that 2020 has been an extraordinary year that many of us would like to forget. The New Year we have been looking forward to for some time is now here.

401(k) plan sponsors know all too well that sunlight – coming in the form of transparent fees and disclosures – is vital to fulfilling their fiduciary duty to act in the best interest of their participants.

No, this article isn’t about the Presidential election. But this year’s election, which took place in the middle of a global pandemic, reminds us that some things are in our control, and some things aren’t. 

On Wednesday, 11/4/20 the Broadcast Retirement Network’s Jeff Snyder interviewed Retirement Clearinghouse (RCH) President & CEO Spencer Williams and Alight Solutions’ Vice President & Head of Research Rob Austin to address the 401(k) system’s small account problem – where high levels of cashout leakage in small balance segments perennially robs millions of participants of a timely or comfortable retirement.

In the 1960’s, counter-culture guru Timothy Leary urged a generation to “turn on, tune in and drop out.” It’s probably a good thing that I didn’t take his advice….at least not the “drop out” part! 
 

Based on solid research, we’ve long known that typical automatic rollover IRAs result in high levels of cashout leakage. We’ve also suspected that they’ve contributed to an explosion of small-balance IRAs.
 

As I wrote in a previous article, 401(k) automated portability is an idea whose time has come. To achieve that vision, how will we get from the present state to full automation of the plan-to-plan roll-in process? 

This article, as well as the video below, offers readers a roadmap for the progression from ‘tired’ to ‘wired’ and finally, to the ‘inspired’ state that will eventually characterize 401(k) roll-ins.

It’s no secret that interest rates have been at historically low levels for quite some time, but the recent announcement by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell indicates that rates will stay near zero for the foreseeable future. Chairman Powell stated in his address last month that the Fed would tolerate above-2% inflation instead of attempting to preemptively control inflation by raising interest rates.

French author and poet Victor Hugo observed: “nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come.”

In theory at least, plan-to-plan portability has always been a feature of our 401(k) system. In practice, it’s been completely impractical for all but a hardy few. The idea of automating 401(k) portability was the holy grail, a ‘moonshot’ generally believed to be impossible…until now.