Private Pensions:
Portability and Preservation of Vested Pension Benefits
HRD-89-15BR: Published: Feb 3, 1989. Publicly Released: Feb 3, 1989.
Additional Materials:
- Full Report:
Contact:
In response to a congressional request, GAO assessed issues relating to the portability and preservation of private pension benefits, specifically: (1) whether job mobility adversely affected retirement income; (2) what kinds of portability and preservation arrangements existed and the extent to which they were used; and (3) the problems and tradeoffs involved in implementing proposals to enhance portability or preservation of pension benefits.
GAO found that: (1) for workers with defined benefit plans, changing jobs would usually result in lower retirement incomes, since benefits and tenure usually do not transfer to another plan and plans base benefits on workers' earnings at the time they leave the plan, rather than their earnings at retirement; (2) workers who participate in a series of defined plans should not lose their retirement income if they keep their benefits in their previous plans, transfer them to subsequent plans, or convert them into individual retirement accounts (IRA); (3) pension preservation is a concern, since many workers spend, rather than reinvest, their cashed-out pension benefits; (4) some multi-employer plans and single-employer plans with reciprocity agreements allow plan portability, but cover less than 20 percent of the private-sector plan participants; (5) IRA are available as a pension preservation mechanism to all workers; (6) only 6 percent of all pension plans accept assets transferred from other plans; and (7) proposals to enhance portability and preservation would give workers better retirement benefits, but would increase employer costs and cause tax revenue losses.
Feb 24, 2021
Financial Services:
Fair Lending, Access, and Retirement SecurityGAO-21-399T: Published: Feb 24, 2021. Publicly Released: Feb 24, 2021.
Jan 19, 2021
-
Elder Justice:
HHS Could Do More to Encourage State Reporting on the Costs of Financial ExploitationGAO-21-90: Published: Dec 18, 2020. Publicly Released: Jan 19, 2021.
Oct 30, 2020
-
Retirement Security:
Other Countries' Experiences with Caregiver PoliciesGAO-20-623: Published: Sep 30, 2020. Publicly Released: Oct 30, 2020.
Sep 24, 2020
-
Retirement Security:
Older Women Report Facing a Financially Uncertain FutureGAO-20-718T: Published: Sep 24, 2020. Publicly Released: Sep 24, 2020.
Aug 28, 2020
-
Retirement Security:
DOL Could Better Inform Divorcing Parties About Dividing SavingsGAO-20-541: Published: Jul 31, 2020. Publicly Released: Aug 28, 2020.
Aug 13, 2020
-
Retirement Security:
Older Women Report Facing a Financially Uncertain FutureGAO-20-435: Published: Jul 14, 2020. Publicly Released: Aug 13, 2020.
Jun 16, 2020
-
Retirement Security:
BLS Should Explore Ways to Improve the Accuracy, Timeliness, and Relevance of Its Cost-of-Living MeasurementsGAO-20-422: Published: Jun 16, 2020. Publicly Released: Jun 16, 2020.
Feb 27, 2020
-
Private Pensions:
IRS and DOL Should Strengthen Oversight of Executive Retirement PlansGAO-20-70: Published: Jan 28, 2020. Publicly Released: Feb 27, 2020.
Jan 9, 2020
-
Social Security Disability:
Action Needed to Help Agency Staff Understand and Follow Policies Related to Prescription Opioid MisuseGAO-20-120: Published: Jan 9, 2020. Publicly Released: Jan 9, 2020.
Dec 18, 2019
-
Capitol Police:
Potential Effects of Raising the Mandatory Retirement AgeGAO-20-137R: Published: Dec 18, 2019. Publicly Released: Dec 18, 2019.
Looking for more? Browse all our products here
Explore our Key Issues on Retirement Security
Explore our other Key Issues here
