LIMRA Consumer Research
Panel Discussion (Full Video)
Full Video (48 minutes)
DConversations - Automatic Portability: A New Approach to Addressing Retirement Plan 'Leakage'
Deb Dupont 11/29/2016
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.
Video Segments
Related Research
Benefits Understanding: The Intention Action Gap
Despite high employee interest in understanding workplace benefits, many still struggle to engage meaningfully with the information provided.
- Research Abstract
- Consumer
- Generations
- Workplace Benefits
- Voluntary/100% Employee Paid
- Retirement
- Retirement, Institutional/Workplace
- Insurance Products
- Critical Illness
- Dental Insurance
- Disability Insurance
- Health Insurance
- Life Insurance
- Long-Term Care Insurance
- Medical Insurance
- Supplemental Health
U.S. Consumer Sentiment (October 2025)
The first week of the government shutdown saw no surge in Americans' economic anxiety.
The 401(k) Scorecard
Keep score . . . on the most important quarterly and year-to-date 401(k) sales information. New Q2 2025 results.
Workers and Wellness: A LIMRA Wellness Update
This update to the LIMRA Financial Wellness Index® focuses on workers’ stress and solutions for achieving wellness.
Meet the Project Director
Deb Dupont
Deb Dupont is responsible for LIMRA’s institutional (retirement plans) retirement research program. She conducts and supervises research, benchmark reporting, and study groups focused on the issues and trends faced by constituents of the defined contribution industry. She also provides guidance and thought leadership in helping LIMRA's member firms better understand the opportunities available for improving delivery of institutional retirement solutions.
Prior to joining LIMRA in 2014, Deb was the Director of ING's Retirement Research Institute (the Institute), where she created, managed, and published a research platform that included work focusing on multi-cultural, generational, and gender-based analyses of retirement behaviors, and also published insights and analyses of ING's own cross-defined contribution (i.e., across employment sectors) participant base. Deb's work has been recognized for effectiveness and quality by some of the most prestigious awards in the financial services and communications industries, including the Insurance and Financial Communicators' Association and the International Association of Business Communicators. She is a graduate of the University of Connecticut.
Assistant Vice President Workplace Benefits Research, Institutional Retirement
LIMRA and LOMA
ddupont@limra.com