Concurrent with the COVID-19 pandemic, our elected representatives have been grappling with the issue of wealth disparities between America’s white and minority workers. Commendably, there has been bipartisan support in Washington, DC for measures to assist those who are historically under-served or under-saved in our national system for accumulating and incubating retirement savings.
 

At first glance, some retirement savings public policies can seem like a sure thing, particularly when they’re based solely upon the benefits that would directly result. However, in the real world, these “first order” effects are inevitably followed by “second order” effects, which can sometimes be antithetical to the policy’s original intent.

During testimony in a July 28^th hearing held by the Senate Finance Committee (Building on Bipartisan Retirement Legislation: How Can Congress Help?), Aliya Robinson, Senior Vice President of Retirement and Compensation Policy for the ERISA Advisory Committee (ERIC), twice voiced her support for auto portability, the new plan feature that automatically moves small balances to the new employer’s plan when participants change jobs.

The Securing a Strong Retirement Act of 2021, nicknamed the “SECURE (Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement) Act 2.0,” was passed unanimously by the House Ways and Means Committee, and many expect the bill to pass the full House of Representatives.

On May 13, 2021, the U.S. Senate’s Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) held its first hearing on retirement security since 2013. With testimony from a blue-ribbon panel of witnesses, the hearing had a broad focus, but the topic of retirement savings leakage, and its most-promising solution, auto portability, were prominently featured.

Financial wellness has taken on a new urgency over the past year as we have witnessed a series of “once-in-a-lifetime” events that affect how we work and save for retirement. In response, many plan sponsors have adopted new and important tools to strengthen the financial wellbeing of their participants.
 

The case for auto portability, the new 401(k) plan default feature that automatically transfers small-balance retirement savings when participants change jobs, has always been strong. Now, with the April 22^nd release of EBRI’s 31^st Annual Retirement Confidence Survey (RCS), the case has grown stronger.
 

America’s 401(k) system, long plagued by friction, produces $92.4 billion of excessive cash-out leakage annually.   In recent years and culminating in 2021, the private sector has finally “cracked the code” and is delivering innovative fintech solutions, combined with education and personal assistance to reduce friction and to enable true 401(k) portability.

So many extraordinary developments took place last year that some trends fell under the radar. One of these—the sharp uptick in migration out of large U.S. cities—can make a significant impact on sponsors and their plans.

When research performed 8 years ago reveals that your 401(k) plan, by turning on portability and consolidation for all participants, has halved cashout leakage and dramatically reduced its small account problem, what do you do for an encore?