Foundational Research

Alight Solutions Releases 2023 Universe Benchmarks Report

Alight Solutions, one of the nation's largest defined contribution recordkeepers and a founding owner member of the Portability Services Network (PSN), released their 2023 Universe Benchmarks report -- the latest in a long line of annual reports that illustrate how workers are saving and investing in defined contribution (DC) plans. The report notes that cashout leakage increased in 2022, where 45% of participants cashed out, compared to 39% in 2021, while adding that the highest leakage levels were observed "almost always [in] small balances." Under the heading of trending topics and considerations, Alight also suggests that plans "add auto-portability" as it can "easily help transfer balances into the plan for new hires."

Direct link to the full 2023 Universe Benchmarks Report

Increased Cashouts at Job Separation Highlight Need for Auto-Portability

PLANSPONSOR's Remy Samuels examined recent research on 401(k) cashout leakage, published in Marketing Science and the Harvard Business Journal, and turns to co-author John G. Lynch, Jr., who provides his support for both auto portability and the Portability Services Network. Samuels writes that Lynch "encourages more recordkeepers to join the Portability Services Network, which would enable employees with smaller balances to roll over 401(k), 401(a), 403(b) and 457 accounts to a new employer’s plans as they change jobs." Referencing plan sponsors, Lynch also pointedly adds: “if the employer really cares about their employees, they should care about them when they’re on the way out the door as well.”

A (Really) Surprising Reason for High Retirement Plan Leakage

NAPA Net's John Sullivan delves into recent cashout leakage research that finds a correlation between more-generous employer matching contributions and higher incidences of leakage. Sullivan also examines auto portability, turning to RCH president & CEO Spencer Williams, who addresses the Portability Services Network (PSN), a newly-formed "independent entity that acts as a utility" to foster adoption of the new automatic feature. Williams provides updates on PSN's recordkeeper membership, and states: "[w]e expect to have the beginnings of reportable activity by the end of the year.”

Fidelity analysis finds a ‘danger zone’ for employees cashing out 401(k)s

InsuranceNewsNet's Ayo Mseka recaps a recent EBRI webinar, where Mike Shamrell, V.P. of Fidelity’s workplace investing thought leadership, presented cashout leakage data garnered from Fidelity’s defined contribution plans. Shamrell's data included extensive breakdowns of cashout leakage data, including an analysis by generational cohort, where the 'danger zone' was identified as participants between the ages of 30 and 39. According to Mseka, Shamrell cited auto portability as one of several solutions to leakage, which could also serve to "reduce the costs and burden of terminated participants."

Too Many Employees Cash Out Their 401(k)s When Leaving a Job

Writing in the Harvard Business Review, a research team comprised of academics John G. Lynch, Yanwen Wang, and Muxin Zhai described their findings on the problem of 401(k) cashout leakage. The study (Cashing Out Retirement Savings at Job Separation) lines up with previous research, determining that 41.4% of participants prematurely cashed out their retirement savings after exiting a job, paying taxes and penalties. The team also observed that, following a job change, former employees face bureaucratic and psychological challenges, receiving form letters that effectively "turn psychologically illiquid retirement savings into a source of ready cash." Finally, the team commended the "new auto portability initiative by Retirement Clearinghouse" for plan sponsors "served by major financial services firms like Vanguard, Alight, and Fidelity."

Also featured in the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM)

Vanguard: Retirement Plans Should Evolve for the Modern Worker

On June 7th, Vanguard released the newest edition of How America Saves, the firm’s seminal report on 401(k) plan design and retirement savings habits. Through its annual, comprehensive analysis of nearly five million 401(k) accounts recordkept at Vanguard, the report reveals additional plan design opportunities employers can address to further improve workers’ retirement readiness. In the release, under key findings, Vanguard notes that "cash outs disproportionately impact younger, low-balance participants" and adds that "[a]uto portability services and revisions to minimum balance rules can help decrease cash out rates."

401k Portability in Four Movements: Case Study

Writing in 401k Specialist, RCH's Tom Hawkins examines the experience of a very large (250,000+ participants) 401(k) plan sponsor that has been highly successful in delivering improved participant outcomes by incrementally adopting a full program of retirement savings portability. Looking at four distinct five-year periods that coincided with increasing levels of portability and improved participant outcomes, Hawkins writes that "there’s no finer example of those [improved] outcomes than the multi-year, real-world experience of this plan sponsor, where thousands of participants increased their prospects for a timely and comfortable retirement."

Key 401k Portability Finding in EBRI’s Retirement Confidence Survey

Writing in 401k Specialist, RCH's Tom Hawkins digs into EBRI's 2022 Retirement Confidence Survey (RCS), locating an interesting and valuable finding not referenced in the organization’s initial report, officially released to the public on Thursday, April 28th. In an excerpt of a report available to survey partners, the survey found that a plurality of job-changing 401(k) plan participants favor automatic plan-to-plan portability over consolidating their savings to an IRA, or to leaving their savings behind in their former employer’s plan. This result comes on the heels of EBRI’s 2021 survey, which found that nearly 9 in 10 participants believed that auto portability would be valuable to them. Hawkins adds that "others -- including the Department of Labor – could find 401(k) participants’ strong preference for plan-to-plan portability compelling."