Spencer Williams

Plan participants cash out retirement funds at alarming rates, and participants need to have services available to help them make good decisions at the time of a job change, says Retirement Clearinghouse’s Spencer Williams.

Plan participants cash out retirement funds at alarming rates, and participants need to have services available to help them make good decisions at the time of a job change, says Retirement Clearinghouse’s Spencer Williams.

As the fiduciary rule creates challenges to old ways of growing retirement assets, it’s time to consider another source of growth: portability solutions.

As the fiduciary rule creates challenges to old ways of growing retirement assets, it’s time to consider another source of growth: portability solutions.

When employees change jobs and cash out their plan balance, they often do it over a period of years rather than all at once, according to Retirement Clearinghouse’s Spencer Williams.

When employees change jobs and cash out their plan balance, they often do it over a period of years rather than all at once, according to Retirement Clearinghouse’s Spencer Williams.

A closer reading of it sends a clear signal to plan sponsors that they should aim to keep participants invested in a qualified defined contribution plan throughout their working lives.

A closer reading of it sends a clear, if unstated, signal to plan sponsors that they should aim to keep participants invested in a qualified defined contribution plan throughout their working lives, according to Retirement Clearinghouse’s Spencer Williams.

Plan sponsors can improve the health of their plans and participants’ retirement outcomes by embracing roll-ins, yet the process remains difficult and costly for workers.

Automatic rollovers are better than cash-outs for cleaning up small 401(k) accounts, according to retirement expert Spencer Williams.

Automatic rollovers are better than cash-outs for cleaning up small 401(k) accounts, but the ideal long-term solution is for sponsors to enable seamless, automatic plan-to-plan portability.

As President Obama prepares to release his budget proposal that is expected to include a provision to expand retirement coverage among small businesses, there is an urgent need for innovative solutions to help participants take their 401(k)s with them when they change jobs.

Commentary: Auto-enrollment, codified in law by the Pension Protection Act of 2006, was drafted with the best of intentions — to increase Americans’ retirement savings — but it has had the unintended consequence of impairing plan effectiveness.

Commentary: By cutting cash-outs among 401(k) plan participants, sponsors can help more savings stay in the overall retirement system.

Portability solutions are a proven method for facilitating and actively encouraging participants to keep their hard-earned savings in the retirement system.

Reducing cash-outs and stranded 401(k) accounts increases average account balances, a key industry metric for measuring retirement plan success.

Commentary: Many safe harbor IRAs don’t live up to their name and could leave sponsors with unexpected fiduciary liability.

Commentary: The term ‘fiduciary’ is often hard to define and can be interpreted in many ways, so it begs the question: How can plan sponsors best fulfill their fiduciary responsibilities in the context of a mandatory distribution program?

The surge of small 401(k) account balances is the result of a perfect storm — increasing rates of adoption for automatic enrollment combined with the high frequency of job changes observed in today’s mobile workforce.

A plan’s average account balance is a key metric used by recordkeepers and other service providers to evaluate its health. Increasing it can give sponsors the leverage they need to negotiate lower fees.