Out of sight out of mind — that’s how employees have been taught to view their retirement savings accounts. Which isn’t a problem, until it’s so out of mind that it’s completely forgotten, costing workers hundreds of thousands of dollars.
An estimated 24.3 million 401(k) accounts and $1.35 trillion in assets haven’t been rolled over by job changers as of May 2021 — with another 2.8 million accounts left behind annually, according to a recent white paper by 401(k) rollover platform Capitalize. These “forgotten” accounts are a product of employees forgetting to consolidate their savings once they move jobs — employees open a new 401(k) with their employer and leave funds from their old one behind.
