Auto Portability's Foundational Research
Auto portability is supported by a broad base of empirical research that clearly demonstrates the problems facing American workers (job-changing, systemic friction and 401k cashout leakage) as well as the solution: moving retirement savings forward when participants change jobs.
EBRI: IRA Rollovers Often Deviate from 401(k) Asset Allocations
ASPPA Net reporter Ted Godbout examines new EBRI research that finds job-changing 401(k) participants' carefully-crafted asset allocation strategies can become dramatically inconsistent after rolling over balances to IRAs. This issue, the research says, "was particularly acute for small-balance rollovers of less than $5,000, as a large percentage of these assets ended up in MMFs as a default investment in the IRAs." EBRI noted that "facilitating the movement of the IRA assets of those still working back into 401(k) plans, such as through auto portability measures...could help achieve the longer-term asset allocation strategies...developed in 401(k) plans, particularly for accounts with lower balances."
Ways to Combat Pervasive Leakage
PLANSPONSOR's Lee Barney reports on the Savings Preservation Working Group's recent analysis (link) of the problem of 401(k) cashout leakage, estimated to be between $60 billion and $105 billion per year, and affecting 33% to 47% of job-changing participants. The report -- the most-comprehensive analysis of cashout leakage to date -- represents a meta-analysis of studies conducted by EBRI, large recordkeepers, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), Boston Research Technologies and RCH's own Auto Portability Simulation. The SPWG's conclusions were reviewed and validated by a team of industry experts, trade associations and advocacy groups, and specifically acknowledges the contributions of RCH's Spencer Williams, Tom Johnson and Tom Hawkins.
A National Program Like OregonSaves Would Reduce Retirement Deficit
PLANSPONSOR reporter Lee Barney joins the chorus of media coverage of the EBRI Issue Brief examining 2 policy initiatives -- a nationwide expansion of an OregonSaves-like program, as well as the adoption of 401(k) safe harbor plans. While the EBRI analysis found that both initiatives delivered significant benefits in the form of reductions to the nation's retirement deficit, the addition of auto portability delivered even more-dramatic benefits to both by reducing the amount of cashout leakage experienced by job-changing participants.
NAPA Net Covers EBRI Issue Brief, Auto Portability
Following the release of a 10/31 EBRI Issue Brief and its 11/4 coverage in 401(k) Specialist, NAPA Net's Ted Godbout reports on EBRI's findings that auto portability, when paired with 2 policy initiatives -- a nationwide OregonSaves program and adoption of 401(k) safe harbor plans -- dramatically improves their benefits, as measured by projected reductions in the nation's retirement savings shortfall (RSS).
EBRI: Nation-Wide Auto IRA Program Would Get Huge Boost from Auto Portability
401(k) Specialist Managing Editor Brian Anderson addresses the latest EBRI Issue Brief, which examined two policy initiatives -- the rollout of a hypothetical, nationwide OregonSaves-like auto IRA program, as well as the widespread adoption of 401(k) safe harbor plans. While EBRI found that both policy initiatives could have a substantial impact on the nation's retirement savings shortfall (RSS), combining them with auto portability turbo-charged their results. When combined with auto portability, a nation-wide OregonSaves initiative generated additional, incremental benefits of $303 billion, while adding a whopping $386 billion to the benefits of 401(k) safe harbor plans.
EBRI: Big Benefits When OregonSaves, Safe Harbor 401(k)s Paired with Auto Portability
A 10/31/19 EBRI Issue Brief -- What if OregonSaves Went National: A Look at the Impact on Retirement Income Adequacy -- examines the impact of a nationwide roll-out of a hypothetical "national" OregonSaves plan, as well as the nationwide adoption of 401(k) safe harbor plans by employers not currently offering a DB or DC plan. Not surprisingly, EBRI finds that the increased access to workplace retirement savings plans generated by these programs produces substantial reductions in EBRI's all-important metric, the Retirement Savings Shortfall (RSS). However, when each program is further paired with auto portability, their benefits are dramatically increased -- from $459 billion to $759 billion for OregonSaves, and from $645 billion to $1.0 trillion for 401(k) safe harbor plans.
Savings Preservation Working Group Releases Cashout Leakage Study
The Savings Preservation Working Group (SPWG), a DC-based coalition seeking to promote best practice retirement policies, announced the release of its first Issue Brief. Entitled "Cashing Out: The Systemic Impact of Withdrawing Savings Before Retirement" -- the report examines a range of recent research and data to quantify
the vast scope of leakage from the defined contribution retirement system, and "represents the most complete review of retirement leakage data to date.
NAPA Net Reader Poll Highlights Issues of Leakage, Portability
On 10/11/19, NAPA Net released results of a reader survey addressing the problem of cashout leakage and yielding valuable perspectives on retirement savings portability. Regarding plan-to-plan portability, a theme “echoed repeatedly” was the “complex, manual process that requires significant form completion and coordination.” The poll further found that 82% of respondents had plan sponsor clients who would be interested in a program that automatically consolidated balances. Specifically referencing auto portability, 81% of respondents indicated that they would introduce such a program to a plan, with 75% opining that such a program would make it easier for participants to manage their retirement savings.
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