In an effort to further the industry’s ongoing efforts to reduce retirement savings leakage, Millennium Trust Company, LLC, today announced it soon will offer optional auto portability functionality for its automatic rollover IRA solution.
“Our scale and existing technology integrations put us in the unique position to connect the industry, and we knew we could bring this functionality to market quickly.”
Millennium Trust’s Erik Beck
The functionality is designed to connect to existing and new auto portability networks. The Oak Brook, Ill.-based provider of health, wealth, retirement and benefits solutions said the new, add-on feature will be ready for client testing later this quarter and available to go live at the beginning of 2024.
“Thousands of recordkeepers, third-party administrators and plan sponsors—including more than half of the top 20 recordkeepers—partner with Millennium Trust to decrease leakage. Our scale and existing technology integrations put us in the unique position to connect the industry, and we knew we could bring this functionality to market quickly,” said Erik Beck, Chief Commercial Officer of Millennium Trust. “We’re offering this optional feature so any clients interested in connecting with our extensive network of retirement industry participants will be able to do so quickly and easily.”
Millennium Trust’s automatic rollover solution has always supported active portability of an IRA owner’s funds when the account owner chooses to do so, and now the company is improving and extending the solution’s portability options. This current initiative is part of what Millennium Trust says is its more than $30 million commitment to combat retirement savings leakage by reducing friction, expanding access to savings options, and providing more financial education.
Beck said the company—which has more than 5 million clients holding over $55 billion in assets under custody—is engaged in extensive, ongoing dialogue with clients of all sizes about their needs. Millennium Trust will have the new functionality in place by the end of June 2023, so anyone interested in the feature will be able to first test it and then implement it at no additional cost on Jan. 1, 2024.
Auto portability leverages the core features of Millennium Trust’s automatic rollover solution, helping individuals transfer their retirement savings from a former employer’s retirement plan to an auto rollover IRA, and then to their new 401(k) or similar employer-sponsored retirement plan unless they elect otherwise. It is an optional add-on to the existing auto rollover solution, wherein low-balance accounts of non-responsive former employees are rolled over to an IRA to maintain the tax advantages of the retirement savings system and reduce leakage.
The SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 allows Millennium Trust to offer auto portability services to recordkeepers, third-party administrators and plan sponsors of all sizes. Auto portability is not mandatory. Rather, plan sponsors may choose to add auto portability to their existing automatic rollover solution, whether through Millennium Trust or another provider, thanks to Millennium Trust’s open network approach to this functionality.
“Millennium Trust wants to make a broad impact on keeping money in the retirement system by partnering with recordkeepers, third-party administrators, plan sponsors and others in our industry. We welcome any current and future retirement industry providers to join us in this mission,” Millennium Trust CEO Dan Laszlo said. “No matter the size of the partner, we want to provide a no-cost, fast and easy option to connect so they can offer their clients choice. And we won’t stop there. We will continue to work on health and wealth solutions that help individuals long before and well into retirement.”
SEE ALSO:
• The Big Shift Towards Auto Portability
• Auto Portability Consortium Adds Empower
• What 401k Advisors Need to Know About Auto Portability
Veteran financial services industry journalist Brian Anderson joined 401(k) Specialist as Managing Editor in January 2019. He has led editorial content for a variety of well-known properties including Insurance Forums, Life Insurance Selling, National Underwriter Life & Health, and Senior Market Advisor. He has always maintained a focus on providing readers with timely, useful information intended to help them build their business.
