Unlocking Your Forgotten Fortune: Find Lost Pensions and 401(k)s Now!

Throughout your career, you’ve likely switched jobs several times since you first dove into the workforce. Perhaps the companies you worked for shut down or you left a negative work environment far behind. Now, you find yourself puzzled about how to locate an unclaimed pension or a 401(k) from those past jobs.

It’s a common dilemma, especially for those in their 60s or even younger, to not know who to contact about retirement funds that may have been forgotten over the years.

How do you even start to look for a 401(k) from decades ago, or figure out if you were part of a pension plan?

According to a 2023 report by Capitalize, a service that helps people roll over their old 401(k)s into IRAs, there are approximately 29 million forgotten 401(k) accounts in the U.S., totaling around $1.65 trillion in unclaimed retirement funds. Capitalize, established in 2020, bases its findings on data from the IRS, the Department of Labor, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, academic studies, and policy expert insights.

The issue of unclaimed retirement money became significant enough to prompt the creation of the federal Retirement Savings Lost and Found under the SECURE 2.0 act, which President Joe Biden signed into law in late 2022 as part of a massive $1.7 trillion spending package.

This new database, set to be established by December 2024, will allow savers to search for their plan administrator’s contact information to claim any benefits owed, a task complicated by data collection and cybersecurity concerns.

Initially, the IRS was considered a potential source for the necessary data, but due to disclosure laws, it declined to provide the information directly to the Labor Department for use in the Retirement Savings Lost and Found database, as noted in an April notice from the Employee Benefits Security Administration.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration is currently working to build this database, collaborating with the IRS, the Treasury, and the Social Security Administration, and gathering voluntary data from plan administrators and recordkeepers, a spokesperson said in late October.

There are already some ways to locate your missing retirement accounts. You might start by reaching out to your former employer or checking old documents that could contain relevant information. If the company is still operational, contacting the plan administrator directly could prove fruitful.

Additional steps are also necessary.

Responding to Social Security Notices

If you receive a notification from the Social Security Administration about potential private retirement benefits, do not ignore it. This could be a clue to unclaimed retirement funds.

Employers must inform the IRS when a worker with a vested benefit leaves, and this information is shared with Social Security. When you apply for Social Security benefits, they may notify you about potential private retirement benefits, explained Joe Rivers, a regional director at the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration in Cincinnati.

This notice may concern a traditional pension or a 401(k) plan and could be one of several if you’ve worked for multiple employers.

By contacting the Employee Benefits Security Administration, you can receive assistance in determining how to claim these funds. Often, individuals may not even realize small amounts of money are sitting unclaimed in various accounts.

Rivers emphasized that even if the notice is just a reminder, it could lead to discovering unclaimed benefits. However, some people might already have claimed their 401(k) funds upon leaving a job, while others may have overlooked funds due to changes in employment status, such as moving from an hourly to a salaried position.

From fiscal year 2019 through June 2025, this office aided hundreds in recovering millions in benefits.

“There’s a substantial amount of money out there that people have either forgotten about or never claimed,” Rivers noted.

Searching for Funds from ‘Abandoned Plans’

The U.S. Department of Labor also offers a search tool for abandoned plans, which can identify benefits from companies that have closed or undergone significant changes such as bankruptcy or mergers. Since 2006, this program has helped numerous employees reclaim millions in benefits.

For assistance, individuals can contact the Employee Benefits Security Administration directly or use online resources such as the “Ask EBSA” webpage.

Rivers mentioned that while tracing these benefits can be complicated by mergers and acquisitions, their office frequently facilitates connections with the right plan administrators. Their involvement can often lead to better outcomes than if individuals made inquiries on their own.

In some cases, the answer may be disappointing, as seen when a woman who left her job in 1992 thought she was owed more money. Investigation revealed she had already received her due benefits.

Americans Across the Country Search for Lost Retirement Funds

Tracking down retirement funds can be particularly challenging in industries with high turnover rates or in small businesses that might lack the resources to maintain communication with former employees after closing.

Rivers shared a common scenario where a small business owner passes away, leaving no one to manage an existing 401(k) plan. Such situations can leave a handful of employees unable to access their retirement funds.

The Pension Rights Center, a nonprofit consumer organization, provides resources and assistance in locating lost pensions as well.

Exploring Unclaimed Property Databases

Currently, there’s no federal requirement for retirement plan providers to report abandoned plans to state unclaimed property programs. Nonetheless, some unclaimed pension funds might still be recoverable through state databases.

Recently, state treasurers and lawmakers have pushed for a uniform national system to help reunite individuals with their unclaimed retirement funds, highlighting the growing issue as more Americans retire each year.

Maintain Your Employment Records

It’s wise to keep thorough records of all your employment-related documents, including pension and 401(k) statements, letters confirming vested benefits, and pay stubs. These records can be crucial when trying to claim or track down old retirement benefits.

Using the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. Database

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. (PBGC) also offers a database to search for unclaimed pension benefits. While it doesn’t cover multiemployer plans, it’s a useful resource for individuals trying to locate benefits from single-employer plans, especially in light of recent pension bailouts under the American Rescue Plan.

Contact personal finance columnist Susan Tompor: stompor@freepress.com. Follow her on X (Twitter) @tompor.