And in November, the monetary providers trade established a system that mechanically strikes outdated retirement accounts into the plan of the employee’s new employer. The Portability Services Network mechanically matches Social Safety numbers on office accounts, obtains the employee’s consent to maneuver the cash and mechanically deposits cash from the outdated account into the brand new employer’s plan. Workers can verify for lacking accounts on the community’s web site by utilizing their final title and final 4 digits of their Social Safety quantity.

The voluntary community contains the plan directors Alight Options, Empower, Constancy Investments, Principal, TIAA and Vanguard and makes use of know-how from Retirement Clearinghouse. These monetary providers corporations administer and maintain the information for employer plans and are anticipated to encourage the employers sponsoring their plans to take part. In addition to serving to savers keep away from compelled I.R.A.s, the community would eradicate cashing out accounts with balances of $1,000 or much less, Mr. Williams of Retirement Clearinghouse mentioned.

“There’s no measurement restrict” on the accounts that may be mechanically moved, he mentioned. “We’ll take balances all the way down to a penny. Most of those plans are cashing out balances of lower than $1,000, and the sponsor is left with an enormous uncashed verify downside. The trade is suffering from these uncashed checks.”

Dealing with your outdated 401(ok)

Employees are free to maneuver their outdated accounts and not using a community or federal database, and have a number of choices. The objective, monetary planners say, is to maintain most or all the cash collectively, the place the investments may be coordinated and the efficiency simply monitored. Listed here are factors to know.

• If a brand new employer has a 401(ok) or comparable plan, that plan’s administrator can sometimes deal with combining your accounts. This might mean you can take a mortgage towards the account steadiness, if that possibility is obtainable. Loans may be taken solely out of your present employer plan.

• If a brand new employer doesn’t supply its personal plan or you’ve stopped working, your outdated plan may be rolled into an I.R.A., a switch most monetary providers suppliers can deal with.

• In case your plan steadiness totals greater than $7,000, the cash may be left within the former employer’s plan. Account holders ought to register on-line to get statements and to handle their investments.

• Employees with a steadiness of lower than $1,000 will almost certainly discover themselves cashed out of their outdated plan. To keep away from paying taxes and potential early-withdrawal penalties, deposit that cash into an I.R.A. inside 60 days. The deposit should cowl your complete 401(ok) steadiness withdrawn, together with any cash withheld for taxes. (That cash may be reclaimed on the account holder’s subsequent tax return.)

“If the steadiness is lower than $1,000, my recommendation is don’t let it money out. You may roll it over,” mentioned Jeanne Fisher Sutton, a licensed monetary planner in Nashville often called 401(k) Lady on YouTube. “Many, many individuals are dropping monitor of their 401(ok)s, and it’s so arduous to search out. If you happen to’re leaving an employer, roll it over and be proactive about your account administration.”

Ms. Featherngill, the Comerica Financial institution government, lastly transferred her outdated 401(ok) from Wells Fargo, two years after she left.