How to find a 401(k) you lost track of

People change jobs, move, and change email addresses. Employers get bought, renamed or shut down, and plans switch from one recordkeeper to another. After a few of these changes it is easy to lose track of a retirement account from a job held years ago. The money does not disappear. Vested 401(k) balances belong to the participant. The task is working out where the account is now and who to contact about it.

Start with what you already have

The fastest route is usually paperwork already in a drawer or an inbox. Useful items include:

• Old account statements, which show the plan name and the company that kept its records
• A Summary Plan Description or enrollment materials from the job
• Old Form W-2s, which report amounts deferred into a 401(k) and confirm that contributions were made in a given year
• Any letters received after leaving, including notices about a change of provider or a plan being closed

If the recordkeeper is known, contacting it directly with a Social Security number and dates of employment is often enough to locate the account.

Contact the former employer

If the company still exists, its human resources or benefits department can say who administers the plan and how to reach them. It helps to have employment dates and any former names or addresses on hand.

If the company was acquired or merged, the plan was usually either merged into the new owner's plan or terminated. The successor company's benefits department is the place to ask.

Search the Labor Department's Lost and Found database

The SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 directed the Department of Labor to create a national search tool. The result is the Retirement Savings Lost and Found Database, run by the department's Employee Benefits Security Administration. According to the site, it is a centralized place to search for retirement plans linked to a person's Social Security number and to get contact information for the plan administrators.

Points the site makes about how it works:

• Access is through Login.gov. Users must verify their identity with an ID-proofed Login.gov account. The site lists the information required, which includes legal name, date of birth, Social Security number and photos of a driver's license.
• It covers private-sector plans. The database can find plans sponsored by private-sector employers and unions, both pensions and defined contribution plans such as 401(k)s.
• It has gaps. It cannot locate IRAs, or plans sponsored by government entities or certain religious organizations.
• A match is not a guarantee. Results show that a person participated in a plan at some point. Benefits may already have been paid out or rolled over. Only the plan administrator can confirm whether anything is still owed.
• It is an information database only. It does not decide eligibility or pay benefits.

The site also carries a security notice: the department does not charge a fee, will not contact people to walk them through identity verification, and will never ask for a password or one-time passcode.

Check PBGC and abandoned plans

Two other federal tools cover situations where a plan has ended.

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation keeps a searchable list of unclaimed retirement benefits. PBGC explains that it holds benefits for people who were not paid when their retirement plan ended, because the employer lost track of them. The search uses a last name and the last four digits of a Social Security number, and PBGC says the database is updated quarterly. As with the Labor Department tool, an initial match is only a first step; PBGC then asks for more identifying information.

When an employer goes out of business and leaves a plan without anyone to run it, the plan may be wound up by an outside administrator. The Labor Department's Abandoned Plan Search lets participants check whether a particular plan is being or has been terminated and find the name of the administrator responsible.

Small balances may have been moved

A plan does not always wait for instructions. The IRS explains that when a former employee with a small account balance does not make an election, the plan administrator may deposit the money into an IRA set up in that person's name. Very small balances may simply be paid out by check, less tax withholding. The dollar thresholds are set by law and by each plan's terms.

Two things follow from this. First, the money may now be in an IRA at a financial institution the person never chose, and the old plan's administrator should be able to say where it was sent. Second, a check mailed to an outdated address may never have been cashed.

Look at state unclaimed property

Uncashed checks and dormant accounts can eventually be turned over to a state. USA.gov explains that state governments hold most unclaimed money and suggests searching the unclaimed property office of each state a person has lived in. USA.gov also notes that there is no single place to look for all unclaimed money, which is why it can take several searches.

Once the account is found

The plan administrator will verify identity and explain what is in the account and what the plan allows. It is a good time to update the mailing address, email and beneficiary designation on file, and to add the account to a job-change checklist for the future. See beneficiary designations for why the last one matters.

From there, the choices are the same as for any old workplace account: leaving it where it is if the plan permits, moving it to a new employer's plan, rolling it to an IRA or withdrawing it. The guide to old 401(k) options compares them, and how a 401(k) rollover works explains the mechanics.

The Department of Labor states that it does not charge a fee to recover funds and will never ask for a password or one-time passcode. A request for payment or sign-in details to "recover" a retirement account is a warning sign.