7 Reasons Why Plan Sponsors Should Adopt Auto Portability
As a guest author for the Plan Sponsor Council of America (PSCA), Steve Holman, SVP of PSN Strategy and Development, makes a compelling case for plan sponsor adoption of auto portability, as delivered by the Portability Services Network. Holman identifies four key issues that auto portability addresses, including high workforce mobility, reducing plan leakage, lowering administrative burdens, and curbing growth in small, inactive accounts -- while citing seven solid reasons why the choice to adopt auto portability adoption is in plan sponsors' best interests.
Shoring up retirement readiness will renew the American Dream
Writing in Employee Benefit News, RCH & PSN CEO Spencer Williams links America's 250th birthday celebration with the American Dream and achieving a financially secure retirement -- emphasizing the importance of protecting small-balance retirement savings when workers change jobs. As Williams observes: "making money is only half the battle to a secure retirement – saving money is the other half" -- and appeals to the retirement industry to "renew our commitment to helping Americans preserve their retirement savings, in order to increase the income they can enjoy after retiring."
America250: How the Retirement Services Industry can Make Good on the Promise in the Declaration of Independence
Linking America's 250th birthday celebration, the American Dream and achieving a financially secure retirement, RCH and PSN CEO Spencer Williams emphasizes the importance of protecting small-balance retirement savings when workers change jobs. As Williams observes: "making money is only half the battle to a secure retirement – saving money is the other half" -- and appeals to the retirement industry to "renew our commitment to helping Americans preserve their retirement savings, in order to increase the income they can enjoy after retiring."
Retirement Savings Portability: An Idea Whose Time Has (Finally) Come
Writing in 401k Specialist, RCH's Tom Hawkins takes stock of five recent, broad-based developments that, taken together, make a compelling case that full retirement savings portability is getting closer to becoming a reality. Key developments Hawkins describes include: 1) auto portability and the rise of the Portability Services Network, 2) key government retirement savings initiatives, 3) potential provisions of SECURE 3.0, 4) an increased focus on “forgotten” accounts and 5) expanding the portability of Roth balances.
Larger 401(k) Plans Embrace Auto Portability as Due Diligence Drives Confidence
Since late 2023, when auto portability – as delivered via the Portability Services Network (PSN) – became operational, the new plan feature has been steadily working its way from an innovative concept into a core best practice for addressing the chronic problem of retirement plan cashout leakage. What’s becoming increasingly clear is that larger 401(k) plans are now joining the movement in meaningful numbers. That shift represents an important inflection point: one where cautious, scale‑focused plan sponsors are completing their due diligence and becoming confident that auto portability delivers real, measurable value to participants without introducing unnecessary risk.
PSCA National Kicks Off with a Look Inside Washington
Reporting on Day 1 of the 2026 PSCA National Conference, ARA Chief Content Officer John Sullivan recaps the action, which included a roundup of the latest retirement policy developments. Led by PSCA Executive Director Will Hansen, the session addressed key legislative initiatives that should be top-of-mind for plan sponsors. Hansen urged plan sponsors to have four takeaways, which included the confirmation of their recordkeeper's ability to accept Saver's Match contributions, as well as the need to evaluate auto portability -- a "hot topic" that Hansen believes could eventually become a mandate, and "would reduce leakage, missing participants, and the fraud surface area created by mailed checks."
You could be losing thousands every time you change jobs
Writing in the Washington Post, personal finance report Michelle Singletary -- author of the nationally syndicated personal finance column “The Color of Money” -- addresses the problem of small-balance 401(k) cashout leakage, its disproportionate impact on minorities, and the solution afforded by auto portability, as delivered by the Portability Services Network (PSN). Singletary turns to visionary entrepreneur Bob Johnson, Chairman of both Retirement Clearinghouse (RCH) and PSN, to understand the genesis of the innovative service, a "game changer because it simplifies the movement of retirement assets." Singletary also quotes RCH & PSN CEO Spencer Williams on the mechanisms underlying auto portability, as well as turning to Vanguard's Fiona Grieg, global head of investor research and policy for her views. Singletary closes by stating that auto portability is "a brilliant plan that can help create legacy wealth for so many families."
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Changing Jobs and Tempted to Cash Out Your 401(k)? Read This First (Future You Will Thank You)
Writing In Kiplinger.com, Retirement Clearinghouse (RCH) and Portability Services Network (PSN) CEO Spencer Williams addresses how the retirement industry is working to improve outcomes for the millions of annual job-changing 401(k) participants with small balances via auto portability, as delivered by PSN. Williams' piece cites detailed data on the phenomenon of systemic friction, the prevalence of job-changing and the incidence of cashout leakage, while addressing the reality behind so-called "forgotten accounts." Williams identifies auto portability as a viable solution to preserving 401(k) savings, and closes by observing: "[t]he real forgotten 401(k) problem is less about millions of Americans losing track of their savings, and more about whether the system makes it unnecessarily difficult to keep those savings consolidated."
