Finding Old 401(k)s for Rollover Clients With Beagle

When a participant rolls their current 401(k) to an IRA, there’s a good chance it isn’t their only one. People change jobs often, and a balance left at a former employer is easy to lose track of. Through AET’s integration with Beagle, rollover clients can find those old accounts and bring them into the same IRA they just opened with their advisor.

How many old 401(k)s are out there?

More than most people expect. The Bureau of Labor Statistics found that people born from 1957 to 1964 held an average of 12.9 jobs between ages 18 and 58, and many of those jobs came with a retirement plan. The Government Accountability Office found that more than 25 million participants left at least one account behind at a former employer between 2004 and 2013, often because they stopped getting mail from the old plan. Ask a new client to list their retirement accounts, and an old 401(k) often comes up as an afterthought.

Why does this matter to plan advisors?

Because the old accounts are often as large as the one being rolled over. An advisor who keeps a $40,000 rollover and then helps the client consolidate two older 401(k)s may end up with a relationship several times the size of the original account.

It also makes the advisor more useful to the client. Finding money someone forgot about is one of the more memorable things an advisor can do.

How does the Beagle integration work?

Beagle searches for 401(k) accounts tied to a person’s work history. In AET’s rollover program, the search is part of the same experience the participant uses to open their IRA.

1. The advisor opens a rollover IRA from the Business Portal, and the participant e-signs
2. They search for old 401(k)s through Beagle
3. They choose which accounts to roll into their AET IRA
4. We process each rollover and track it until the money lands
5. The advisor sees every account and transfer in the AET Business Portal

Everything runs on our white-labeled platform, so the participant sees the advisor’s firm throughout.

What can the consolidated IRA hold?

The same things as any AET rollover IRA. Low-cost model portfolios cover the core of most accounts, and AET can also hold alternative assets inside the IRA, including real estate, private placements, private credit, and venture funds, for clients who want them.

Frequently asked questions

Does the participant have to roll every account they find? No. The participant decides which accounts to move and where.

Can old 401(k)s go into the same IRA as the current rollover? Yes. Pre-tax 401(k) balances can generally be combined in one traditional IRA. Roth 401(k) balances go to a Roth IRA.

Does the advisor see the found accounts? The advisor sees each rollover into the AET IRA in the Business Portal, from request to funding.

Talk to us about plan rollovers

If you advise 401(k) plans and want to keep more of your participants’ savings, see our plan rollover program or book a call with our team.

This material has been prepared for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide, and should not be relied upon for, legal, tax, or investment advice.