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Retirement Clearinghouse in the News

Find news articles referencing RCH and our services, including Auto Portability

Apr
29
2019

P&I Article on DOL Guidance Mentions Auto Portability

In his 4/29/19 article, P&I's Brian Croce addresses the deliberate pace of guidance offered by the Department of Labor (DOL) over the last two years. The article notes that the DOL's advisory opinion "issued for Retirement Clearinghouse LLC over expansion of its auto portability program to reduce plan leakage" was one of two issued thus far, and the only advisory opinion issued in 2018. The article also highlights the ongoing emphasis of the DOL on enforcement & recovery activities with regard to missing participants, a topic of concern for plan sponsors.

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Apr
24
2019

Fitting Synthetic Tenure into the Revolving Door of Talent

In an April 2019 article in The Leader's Edge Magazine, Zach Ewell examines the emerging concept of synthetic tenure, originated by Retirement Clearinghouse and an important by-product of auto portability. Ewell acknowledges the potential of synthetic tenure to reduce cashout leakage and to preserve retirement savings, and also suggests that employers who facilitate synthetic tenure via portability could realize additional benefits -- demonstrating that they care about employees and in so doing, potentially increasing "real tenure."

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Apr
23
2019

Concerned about cybersecurity? Here’s how to protect 401(k) plans

In his latest column in Employee Benefit News, RCH President & CEO Spencer Williams examines the positive effect auto portability could have on minimizing the cybersecurity threat to America's retirement system. As Williams observes, the scope and scale of cyber-attacks are escalating, and the retirement system is mobilizing to increase protections. Fortunately, says Williams, the same solution designed to address the industry's proliferation of small, stranded accounts -- auto portability -- can augment cybersecurity efforts through consolidation processes, leaving participants and their savings more secure.

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Apr
15
2019

Auto Portability: A much-needed upgrade for automatic rollover programs

In the 2nd installment of his five-part series in 401k Specialist "How Auto Portability Serves Participants' Best Interests", RCH's Tom Hawkins examines how auto portability, by extending and enhancing elements of automatic rollovers, establishes a new standard of participant care. Auto portability, writes Hawkins, protects participants by: 1) minimizing time spent in a safe harbor IRA, 2) eliminating the need to cash out balances less than $1,000, 3) enhancing participant communication, 4) formally integrating a robust address location search and 5) establishing a transparent, simple & straightforward fee structure.

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Apr
11
2019

Future of Retirement: EBRI Expert Says it Includes Auto Portability

Jack VanDerhei, EBRI Research Director, envisions a critical role for auto portability in solving America's retirement crisis. In a recent symposium conducted by TheStreet in New York, VanDerhei identified four key retirement challenges -- plan coverage, long-term care costs, longevity and leakage. VanDerhei predicted that leakage will be addressed when auto portability "become[s] a part of the retirement landscape" and "little account balances, which are really highly-susceptible to being cashed out" are automatically consolidated into larger 401(k) balances.

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Apr
01
2019

Tax Day is coming — a perfect time to teach millennials why they shouldn’t cash out

April 15 is just around the corner. While many Americans dread Tax Day, April 15 presents defined contribution plan sponsors with an opportunity to demonstrate their value as fiduciaries, and as financial wellness advocates. Anyone who is 18 or older, not a full-time student, and not claimed as a dependent on someone else’s tax return is eligible for a retirement savings contributions credit (also known as a saver’s credit). This tax credit rewards people for making eligible contributions to their IRAs or employer-sponsored retirement plans. In his latest article in Employee Benefit News, Retirement Clearinghouse CEO Spencer Williams advocates for Millennials to invest the credit in their retirement plan, rather than spend it.

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Mar
26
2019

Shorter Employee Tenure Demands Progressive Plan Design

PLANSPONSOR's Amanda Umpierrez examines the latest research from EBRI revealing decreasing employee tenure, concluding that shorter tenure could adversely impact retirement plan success. Umperriez quotes RCH EVP Neal Ringquist, who ties decreasing tenure to destructive outcomes, such as cashing out, and RCH CEO Spencer Williams, who advocates for immediate plan eligibility and adoption of automatic enrollment provisions. Finally, EBRI's Craig Copeland, author of the research, addresses the beneficial impact of auto portability, stating that “[a]uto-portability will play an increasingly important role because it helps a lot with balance preservation.”

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Mar
22
2019

Auto-portability: A way to address 401(k) leakage

In his 3/22/19 article in BenefitsPRO, Pentegra's RIchard Rausser advocates for auto portability as a means to address the serious problem of "leakage" from the 401(k) retirement system. Rausser's article first looks to research from the Center for Retirement Research (CRR) and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to underscore the dimensions of the leakage problem, and goes on to cite EBRI research that demonstrates the positive impact of auto portability. Rausser concludes by referencing the DOL's November 2018 actions on RCH's auto portability program, including the pending prohibited transaction exemption, stating that "others in the industry are strongly in favor of auto-portability."

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