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How are tariffs and your 401(k) retirement savings intertwined?<\/p>\n
Experts say a rise in tariffs can lead to several factors that impact your retirement savings.<\/p>\n
Some Michiganders might have an unexpected payday in their future, as $1.7 trillion languishes in lost or forgotten 401(k) accounts, money that is just sitting around collecting interest.<\/p>\n
With an average unclaimed balance of $56,616, it might behoove some Michigan residents to find out how much, if any, belongs to them.<\/p>\n
Here’s what Michiganders should know.<\/p>\n
How many 401(k)s go unclaimed?<\/p>\n
Short answer? A lot. There are roughly 29 million idle accounts representing one quarter of all assets held in 401(k) retirement plans, according to figures from a 2023 report<\/a> from Capitalize, a financial services firm.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s a heck of a lot of money,\u201d said James Royal<\/a>, an investing analyst at Bankrate. \u201cYou could really have tens of thousands of dollars out there.\u201d<\/p>\n Why do 401(k) accounts go unclaimed?<\/p>\n It\u2019s hard to fathom how anyone could lose track of $56,000, until you stop to consider the circumstances behind the typical lost 401(k) account.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cPeople who are leaving a job, and especially if they\u2019re moving to another one, usually have a bunch of things going on,\u201d said \u202fDavid John<\/a>, a senior strategic policy adviser at the AARP Public Policy Institute.<\/p>\n The average American born between 1957 and 1964 has changed jobs about a dozen times, AARP reports<\/a>. A record 47 million Americans quit their jobs in 2021 alone, amid the Great Resignation.<\/p>\n A worker who leaves a job after a year or two might have only a few thousand dollars saved in a retirement account. In the stress of a job change, it\u2019s easy to lose track of those funds.<\/p>\n Forgotten accounts keep earning interest<\/p>\n Workers might struggle with how to \u201croll over\u201d the savings into a new account. The balance might not seem to justify the effort.\u00a0<\/p>\n Wait a decade or two, however, and the balance in a forgotten account can balloon into a tidy sum. The reason: Most 401(k) funds tend to be invested in stocks, and the market has made enormous gains in recent decades.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cEven 10 or 15 years ago, if you put in $5\u2026, $6\u2026, $7,000, that could be worth three, four, or five times as much today,\u201d Royal said.<\/p>\n How to track down a lost 401(k) account<\/p>\n Tracking down lost 401(k) accounts has never been easier, according to Royal and other retirement-plan experts. A curious consumer with an hour to spare can go a long way toward rooting out lost savings.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Here are some tips, starting with the easy stuff:<\/p>\n Finding a lost 401(k): The low-hanging fruit<\/p>\n There are three easy websites you can use to discover if you have missing 401(k) funds. They are:<\/p>\n Here’s a quick breakdown of each service.<\/p>\n Can I find my 401(k) with my Social Security number?<\/p>\n Yes, visit the National Registry of Unclaimed Retirement Benefits<\/a>. As the name suggests, it\u2019s a national database of unclaimed retirement accounts.<\/p>\n Enter your Social Security number, run a quick search and see if any idle accounts come back.<\/p>\n How do I find if I have any retirement savings I forgot about?<\/p>\n The Retirement Savings Lost and Found Database<\/a> is a new site launched by the U.S. Department of Labor<\/a> to help workers locate unclaimed benefits.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The lost and found site is \u201cstill trying to reach scale with a lot of providers\u201d and not yet comprehensive, said Rita Assaf, vice president of retirement savings at Fidelity. But it\u2019s another convenient, one-stop destination for finding retirement funds in your name.<\/p>\n Is MissingMoney.com a legitimate website?<\/p>\n Missing Money<\/a>, according to its website, is a clearinghouse of unclaimed property held by U.S. states and Canadian provinces and is endorsed by the National Association of State Treasurers<\/a>.<\/p>\n Another one-stop site, Missing Money can direct users to all sorts of unclaimed property, including retirement accounts.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been around for a few years, but it\u2019s not as widely known as it should be,\u201d said John of AARP.<\/p>\n You can also check for unclaimed property through the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators website: Unclaimed.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n Finding a lost 401(k): Some effort required<\/p>\n The steps above should provide a good sense of potential unclaimed retirement funds in your name. The next moves might take a bit more time.<\/p>\n Search your old employment records<\/p>\n Search your employment records. Look for old retirement plan statements, in electronic or paper form. Alternately, seek out old pay stubs and W-2 forms, and look for contributions to retirement plans.\u00a0<\/p>\n Contact old employers<\/p>\n Contact old employers, if you can find them. Start with the human resources department. Someone there might know if you participated in a 401(k) or, at a minimum, which company administered the plan.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n If you think you know which plan administrator held your account, contact that company directly.<\/p>\n Be patient<\/p>\n \u201cThere are not that many 401(k) plan administrators out there,\u201d said Kate Ashford<\/a>, a retirement expert at NerdWallet. \u201cYou could take an afternoon and call them all.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Ask to speak to the 401(k) department. A representative will typically ask for your Social Security Number and other identifying information, which can help the administrator find any old retirement accounts under your name.<\/p>\n If a lost retirement plan is \u201cfrom many years ago,\u201d Assaf said, \u201cthat plan may not still be available at Fidelity. It could be somewhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n What if the balance is under $1,000?<\/p>\n For retirement accounts with a balance under $1,000, a plan administrator may have liquidated the account and cut a check, which might have gone \u201cto your last-known address,\u201d Ashford said.<\/p>\n For balances in the low thousands, the administrator may have rolled the account into an IRA at another financial institution.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Finding a lost 401(k): Other resources\u00a0<\/p>\n Several other sites can help consumers search for clues about abandoned retirement accounts.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Department of Labor\u2019s abandoned plan database<\/a> can help an ex-worker locate a terminated plan.<\/p>\n The same agency allows users to search a database of Form 5500<\/a>, which is filed annually for 401(k) plans and can help users identify and contact both former employers and plan administrators. But records only go back to 2010.\u00a0<\/p>\n Don\u2019t want to search for lost 401(k) funds yourself? At least two private companies, Capitalize<\/a> and Beagle<\/a>, operate concierge services that can do it for you.\u00a0<\/p>\n Can I have that 401(k) to go?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Fewer 401(k)s will go missing in the future, experts say, thanks to the evolving concept of “auto-portability” in retirement plans.<\/p>\n A new initiative in the retirement-savings industry encourages workers to roll over a 401(k) account into an IRA when they leave a job, whereupon the money can automatically transfer to a retirement plan at a new employer.\u00a0<\/p>\n The auto-portability program applies to accounts valued at $7,000 or less. Research shows low-value accounts are more likely to be cashed out or forgotten, potentially losing thousands of dollars of compounded interest over time.\u00a0<\/p>\n In 2022, a consortium of private retirement-plan providers announced\u202fa collaboration<\/a>\u202fto boost the portability of small retirement accounts.\u00a0<\/p>\n When someone leaves a job, the network of providers will make sure that any retirement funds \u201cmove seamlessly from one job to another,\u201d said John of AARP.\u00a0<\/p>\n How many people in Michigan receive Social Security?<\/p>\n\n