If you’ve done a lot of job-switching throughout your career, chances are that you’ve participated in many different retirement plans.
And, sometimes, in the excitement of starting a new job, you may have forgotten the money you left behind in former employers' plans. Especially if you didn’t contribute all that much.
The end result? One or more “abandoned nest eggs.”
Leave too many of these accounts behind and it’ll be hard for you to keep track of how much your total retirement nest egg really is, or how it’s invested. This information gap may make it challenging to figure out if your retirement savings strategy is on track.
And, in some cases, an employer may have moved your money somewhere else. This can happen when:
- A plan sponsor switches retirement plan providers, moving your account along with it. Once that happens, your login credentials for your old plan’s online portal probably won’t work.
- The value of a dormant account is between $1,000 and $7,000. In these cases, a plan sponsor can transfer that money to an IRA custodian under your name.
- The value of an account is less than $1,000. In these situations, plan sponsors can simply cut a check for the amount and mail it to you at your last known address. Since this counts as a distribution, you may owe taxes and an early withdrawal penalty if you don’t correctly deposit this distribution into an IRA or your current employer’s plan within a certain timeframe.
Before a plan sponsor moves your money somewhere else, they must use a number of proscribed methods to contact you first, starting with the contact information they have for you on file. However, if you move frequently or change your phone number you may not receive these important notifications. If all of their attempts fail to locate you, the plan sponsor may move your money out of the plan.
Searching for your lost retirement "treasure troves"
If you believe that you left money behind with former employers and want to know where it is, there is a new resource you can use: The U.S. Department of Labor’s Retirement Savings Lost and Found Database.
According to the website, the purpose of this site is to “serve as a centralized location to find lost or forgotten benefits and get information on how to obtain those funds.”
But before you dive in, keep in mind that this resource is far from perfect. For one thing, it can only be used to find defined benefit plans or defined contribution plans sponsored by private companies or unions.
And while all plan sponsors are supposed to provide information on dormant accounts to the DOL, many companies—particularly smaller firms—still haven’t done so. Which means that this tool may not have records of every account you left behind.
And, of course, since this is a government site, there are a lot of hoops you’ll need to jump through to before you can conduct your retirement account scavenger hunt.
Step 1: Establish a login.gov account
To search the DOL site, you’ll need to have a login.gov account. This single account lets you conduct activities and transactions on many different U.S. government websites, including the Department of Labor, the State Department and the Social Security Administration. Read this article to learn how to establish a login.gov account.
Once you’ve done that, you can use those credentials to log in to the DOL database. Have a mobile device ready, because you’ll need to enter a code sent by text to authenticate your login.
But wait…there’s more
Unfortunately, you can’t start your hunt right away. The DOL site requires you to verify your identity first. To do that, you’ll need to have handy:
- Your driver’s license, passport, or other valid federal or state photo ID.
- Your Social Security number and date of birth.
- An Internet-connected mobile device that can receive texts and take photos.
In the first step of this process, you’ll need to enter your Social Security number and date of birth.
Once this is confirmed, you’ll be sent a link to your mobile device that enables the DOL to capture one or more images of your photo ID.
If your ID capture is successful, you’ll then need to take a photo of your face so the government can match it to your ID.
If this process succeeds, you’ll be asked to enter your login.gov password one more time and you may be asked to enter another code sent via text.
If this all works, your access to the database will be approved.
What you might find there
In the best-case scenario, you'll be presented with a list of former-employer retirement plans associated with your Social Security number that you've participated in over the years. Information for each plan may include:
- The name of the plan and the plan sponsor
- The current plan administrator
- The plan sponsor mailing address
Since this is a database of past accounts, it probably won't list your current employer's retirement plan. If one of your former employers went out of business years ago, their plan may show up. If a former company was acquired by another company and leftover assets in their plan moved into the buyer's plan, you may see plans listed that you've never heard of.
In any case, none of these records necessarily mean that there’s still money in your account, since these records may show plans you participated in the past and then moved money out of later.
One clue may be to see if there are “type of annuity” or “payment frequency” entries. If either field indicates a “lump sum,” it’s possible that either you rolled this money over to another plan or IRA, or that the plan sponsor moved it somewhere else.
That’s why the next step in your scavenger hunt is to write to the plan sponsor using the provided mailing address. By law, they’re required to tell you:
- If there’s any money left in your account and how to access it.
- If they transferred your account balance to an IRA, they must provide the name and contact information for the custodian.
- If they cut a check for the balance and mailed it to you, they must tell you when this distribution was made and the address it was mailed to. If you never received the check, you may be able to ask for a replacement.
If you find out that you still have retirement plan money gathering dust in the plans of former employers, you might as well take the next step to roll over this money into a single account that lets you keep track of all of it, whether it’s your current employer’s plan or an IRA. A financial advisor may help you weigh the pros and cons of each option.
This article was authored by Martin Baker and Jeffrey Briskin. Martin is a financial advisor and Director of Financial Planning with Canby Financial Advisors, a SEC-registered investment adviser. SEC registration does not constitute an endorsement by the SEC nor a statement about any skill or training. Martin can be reached at 508.598.1082 or mbaker@canbyfinancial.com. Jeffrey Briskin is Director of Marketing at Canby Financial Advisors.
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