---
title: RCH Consolidation Corner | Missing Participants (5)
description: Missing Participants | Keep up to date on all of the latest industry news with RCH1 (5)
---

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Posts about

# Missing Participants (5)

### Consolidation Corner Blog

Consolidation Corner is the Retirement Clearinghouse (RCH) blog, and features the latest articles and bylines from our executives, addressing important retirement savings portability topics.

---

 Jun

 26

 2018

## [RCH Releases New Video “Addressing the Problem of Missing Participants”](https://blog.rch1.com/blog/rch-releases-new-video-addressing-the-problem-of-missing-participants)

![Addressing the Problem of Missing Participants](https://blog.rch1.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Set_Up_Images/Other_Generic_Images/AddressingProblemMissingParticipantsCoverImage.png?width=200&name=AddressingProblemMissingParticipantsCoverImage.png)  
Retirement Clearinghouse (RCH) has released a new video “Addressing the Problem of Missing Participants.” The video integrates new research findings from the March 2018 study “[The Mobile Workforce’s Missing Participant Problem](https://info.rch1.com/missing-participant-survey)” and provides viewers with the most-complete and factual summary of the problem, including:

[Read More](https://blog.rch1.com/blog/rch-releases-new-video-addressing-the-problem-of-missing-participants)

 May

 16

 2018

## [Encouraging 401(k) Account Consolidation is the Key to Reducing Lost & Missing Participants](https://blog.rch1.com/blog/encouraging-401k-account-consolidation-is-the-key-to-reducing-lost-missing-participants)

[![Employee Benefit News](https://blog.rch1.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Publications/EBN/ebnimage.jpg?width=200&name=ebnimage.jpg "Employee Benefit News")](https://www.benefitnews.com/opinion/401k-account-consolidation-the-key-to-reducing-lost-participants)Much has been written recently about the preponderance of lost and missing participants. This predicament, one of the many offshoots of [the problem of too many small accounts](https://www.benefitnews.com/opinion/why-small-retirement-accounts-are-the-root-of-many-problems), is an urgent one for sponsors to address given reports that the Department of Labor (DOL) is focusing on their ability to locate missing participants during plan audits.

[Read More](https://blog.rch1.com/blog/encouraging-401k-account-consolidation-is-the-key-to-reducing-lost-missing-participants)

 May

 10

 2018

## [Missing Participants: An Ounce of Prevention Equals a Pound of Cure](https://blog.rch1.com/blog/missing-participants-an-ounce-of-prevention-equals-a-pound-of-cure)

![Ben\_Franklin](https://blog.rch1.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Ben_Franklin.png?width=200&name=Ben_Franklin.png)When Ben Franklin coined the adage “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” he wasn’t considering the problem of missing participants, but 401(k) plan sponsors would be wise to heed Ben’s sage advice.  

Today, plan sponsors face an explosion of [missing participants](https://blog.rch1.com/blog/bringing-clarity-to-the-murky-problem-of-missing-participants), driven by the ongoing adoption of auto enrollment and increasing workforce mobility.  Their problems are further compounded by the administrative burden required to locate them, combined with a regulatory minefield that offers little guidance and is prone to taking inconsistent enforcement actions.  

[Read More](https://blog.rch1.com/blog/missing-participants-an-ounce-of-prevention-equals-a-pound-of-cure)

 Feb

 23

 2018

## [A New Solution to Tackle the Old Problem of Missing Participants](https://blog.rch1.com/blog/a-new-solution-to-tackle-the-old-problem-of-missing-participants)

[![Employee Benefit News](https://blog.rch1.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Publications/EBN/ebnimage.jpg?width=178&name=ebnimage.jpg "Employee Benefit News")](https://www.benefitnews.com/opinion/a-new-solution-to-tackle-the-old-problem-of-missing-401-k-s)Despite differences big and small, all retirement plan sponsors and record-keepers experience at least one common problem—the seemingly intractable incidence of participants who have left behind small accounts in the plans sponsored by their former employers and failed to update their address when they subsequently change residence, a.k.a. [missing participants](https://www.benefitnews.com/opinion/how-to-reunite-employees-with-their-old-401-k-accounts).

[Read More](https://blog.rch1.com/blog/a-new-solution-to-tackle-the-old-problem-of-missing-participants)

 Jan

 11

 2018

## [Two Retirement Public Policy Initiatives Moving Forward in 2018](https://blog.rch1.com/blog/two-retirement-public-policy-initiatives-moving-forward-in-2018)

![public policy retirement initiatives 2018](https://blog.rch1.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Set_Up_Images/Other_Generic_Images/publicpolicy.jpg?width=200&name=publicpolicy.jpg "public policy retirement initiatives 2018")In late 2017, retirement industry observers breathed a collective sigh of relief when “Rothification” of 401(k) plans, once considered as a part of new tax legislation, was abandoned.  With Rothification in the rear-view mirror, policymakers have begun turning their attention to other, more-promising initiatives.

[Read More](https://blog.rch1.com/blog/two-retirement-public-policy-initiatives-moving-forward-in-2018)

 Jan

 02

 2018

## [Auto Portability Makes Everything Better](https://blog.rch1.com/blog/auto-portability-makes-everything-better)

![Bacon Sizzling](https://blog.rch1.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Set_Up_Images/Consolidation_Corner/Bacon_Sizzling.png?width=200&name=Bacon_Sizzling.png "Bacon Sizzling")Beginning in 2000 and continuing for a decade, American consumers were overtaken by “bacon-mania” – an obsession with the [tasty, fried cured-pork treat](http://www.baconsizzling.com/) that included cookbooks, exotic new products and a catchy slogan: “[Bacon Makes Everything Better](https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2013/10/25/240556687/does-bacon-really-make-everything-better-here-s-the-math).” Great all by itself, bacon was hailed as having the added virtue of improving the taste of almost any dish it was added to.

[Read More](https://blog.rch1.com/blog/auto-portability-makes-everything-better)

 Oct

 25

 2017

## [In Search Of: Guidance for Locating Missing Participants](https://blog.rch1.com/blog/in-search-of-guidance-for-locating-missing-participants)

![In Search of Guidance](https://blog.rch1.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Set_Up_Images/Other_Generic_Images/In_Search_of_Guidance.png?width=200&name=In_Search_of_Guidance.png "In Search of Guidance")Two weeks ago, I authored an [article](https://blog.rch1.com/blog/bringing-clarity-to-the-murky-problem-of-missing-participants) applauding the [American Benefits Council](https://www.americanbenefitscouncil.org/) for their [October 2nd, 2017 letter](https://www.americanbenefitscouncil.org/pub/?id=d68a50ca-908c-9e37-d53d-3111689f91ff) to the [Department of Labor (DOL)](https://www.dol.gov), which clearly identified the root causes of missing participants: a [highly-mobile workforce](https://info.rch1.com/mobileworkforce) and a lack of retirement savings portability. Extending the Council’s insight, I maintained that what’s really “missing” in our defined contribution system are initiatives that move retirement savings forward when participants change jobs, such as [auto portability](http://www.rch1.com/auto-portability). When implemented, these initiatives could serve to dramatically decrease the overall incidence of [missing participants](https://www.rch1.com/missing-participants).

[Read More](https://blog.rch1.com/blog/in-search-of-guidance-for-locating-missing-participants)

 Mar

 08

 2017

## [The Fundamentals of Locating Missing Participants](https://blog.rch1.com/blog/the-fundamentals-of-locating-missing-participants)

This video presentation is designed to give the viewer a basic understanding of the principles of locating missing participants in 401(k) plans. 

[Read More](https://blog.rch1.com/blog/the-fundamentals-of-locating-missing-participants)

 Aug

 25

 2016

## [The ABCs of Missing Participants](https://blog.rch1.com/blog/the-abcs-of-missing-participants)

![ABCs of Missing Participants](https://blog.rch1.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Set_Up_Images/Other_Generic_Images/ABCs_of_Missing_PPTs.png?width=200&name=ABCs_of_Missing_PPTs.png "ABCs of Missing Participants")**What is a Missing Participant?** 

[Read More](https://blog.rch1.com/blog/the-abcs-of-missing-participants)

 Aug

 23

 2016

## [New Penalties for Lost Participants Take Effect](https://blog.rch1.com/blog/new-penalties-for-lost-participants-take-effect)

![Penalty definition New penalties for lost participants take effect](https://blog.rch1.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Set_Up_Images/Other_Generic_Images/penalty.png?width=200&name=penalty.png "Penalty definition New penalties for lost participants take effect")

In November of 2015, Congress enacted the Federal Civil Monetary Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act to apply inflation adjustments to various penalties defined under the Federal Civil Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990. One of those penalties was the $10 per employee penalty for failure to furnish reports to certain former participants and beneficiaries or maintain records. The new penalty, as published in the [Federal Register](https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2016-07-01/pdf/2016-15378.pdf) (Table C), is now $28 per employee, effective August 1, 2016.

[Read More](https://blog.rch1.com/blog/new-penalties-for-lost-participants-take-effect)

Page:

[‹](https://blog.rch1.com/blog/topic/missing-participants/page/4) [2](https://blog.rch1.com/blog/topic/missing-participants/page/2) [3](https://blog.rch1.com/blog/topic/missing-participants/page/3) [4](https://blog.rch1.com/blog/topic/missing-participants/page/4) [5](https://blog.rch1.com/blog/topic/missing-participants/page/5) [6](https://blog.rch1.com/blog/topic/missing-participants/page/6) [›](https://blog.rch1.com/blog/topic/missing-participants/page/6)

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