Skip to content

LIMRA Consumer Research

Summary

About 10 million Defined Contribution (DC) participants change jobs each year – 3.4 million with account balances of less than $5,000.

More than half of these “low balance” participants cash out their DC plans when they change jobs.

Over the longer term, these participants – most of them younger – lose out on the potential for long-term growth of their retirement investment.

Cashing out is the “easy” behavior for these smaller balance accounts.

Automatic portability is a new approach to helping individuals retain retirement assets, in the Defined Contribution system, as they change jobs throughout their careers – and may be especially beneficial for younger workers. 

LIMRA Secure Retirement Institute Assistant Vice President Matthew Drinkwater, Ph.D., FLMI, AFSI, PCS hosted Retirement Clearinghouse’s Spencer Williams and Tom Johnson at LIMRA’s 2016 Retirement Industry Conference to discuss the notion of Automatic Portability in DC plans, and advances on the regulatory and policy fronts. 

No part of any report may be reproduced or translated without written permission from LIMRA. Please contact Customer Service for further information.

Panel Discussion (Full Video)

 

Full Video (48 minutes)

 

Video Segments

Related Research

SECUR-ing America’s Retirement System: Plan Sponsor Perceptions and Processing of the SECURE Acts

How can defined contribution stakeholders and suppliers support employers tasked with leveraging and complying with the provisions of the SECURE Acts? The answer begins with knowing how plan sponsors perceive and understand the implications of these Acts for them and their plans.

Inside the Intermediary 5.0: A LIMRA-NAILBA Study

LIMRA and NAILBA conducted the fifth annual intermediary study to learn more about BGAs and IMOs in the United States.

Canadian Individual Annuities

Benchmark sales for a range of fixed and segregated fund contracts; by distribution system and province. New Q3 2025 summary.


Meet the Project Director


Did you accomplish the goal of your visit to our site?

Yes No