The Secure 2.0 Act mandates the Department of Labor to create a national, online “lost and found” for Americans to track their retirement accounts.
U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Steve Daines (R-Mont.) originally introduced bipartisan legislation — the Retirement Savings Lost and Found Act — in 2016, 2018 and 2021 to establish the registry. In 2022, that legislation was included as part of Secure Act 2.0., which requires sweeping changes that affect retirement plans and participants. President Biden signed Secure Act 2.0 into law on December 29, 2022.
A study by Capitalize, a New York-based company whose mission is to help consumers locate and maximize retirement investments from past employers, found that as of May 2021 an estimated 24.3 million 401(k) accounts with $1.35 trillion in assets have been left behind by job changers.
The DOL must create an online searchable lost-and-found database of retirement plans by December 29, 2024.
