Vanguard Makes New Push to Help Clients Find Lost IRAs

News August 01, 2023 at 02:28 PM
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Vanguard and Retirement Clearinghouse have expanded a partnership that aims to help investors reconnect with small-balance rollover individual retirement accounts of which they may have lost track.

Since 2021, the two companies have collaborated as they prepare to provide auto-portability services to 401(k) plan sponsors and their participants. Now, the two firms are broadening the collaboration to support search service for clients with lost IRAs.

As noted in a press release about the expanded collaboration, IRA accounts often are opened when employees change jobs through a rollover. Sometimes, particularly when the amounts are relatively modest, investors can lose track of these IRA accounts.

Vanguard says investors can also forget to make decisions about how to invest the rolled-over assets, often leaving assets sitting in low-yielding cash equivalents not aligned with their long-term retirement objectives.

According to Vanguard, because saving for retirement is the primary goal for many investors, an IRA account that is not properly invested or accounted for can be disappointing for the account owner — and this disappointment may lead to cash-outs and forfeiture of future savings and returns.

The new services should help IRA accountholders determine which options are best for them, including whether to roll their IRA into their current employer's retirement plan if their current plan allows, consolidate their IRA into another existing IRA or keep their savings where they are.

In certain instances, Vanguard will now be sending select small-balance IRAs on its platform to Retirement Clearinghouse to facilitate investors reconnecting with their money.

Photo: Adobe Stock

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