 Job changers can be leaving money behind as they seek out bigger salaries. A record number of people changed occupations during the pandemic. This increases the likelihood that many people will forget to bring their retirement money with them. Plans have been made by the government and industry to return those people's lost money. You might be the owner of one of the millions of forgotten 401K funds holding more than $1 trillion in assets if you quit your job, were fired, or were let go over the past few years amid the pandemic. But assistance is on the way to help you get those funds back. Congress enacted Secure Act 2.0 in the closing weeks of 2022, which among other things commits to creating a nationwide lost and found database for misplaced retirement savings by 2025. Workers had plenty of chances to lose retirement assets due to the recent large changes in the employment market. 23 million individuals lost their jobs as a result of business closures at the outset of the pandemic, the most since the government began keeping track of that information. A strong and quick rebound after the economy reopened led to labor shortages that, along with the stress of the health crisis, led a record 4.5 million workers to leave their employment in November 2021 in search of better pay or more rewarding work. The new rule has the potential to make a significant dent in considerable improvement in the nation's savings gap that aids Americans in finding those abandoned 401K funds. An employer-sponsored retirement plan is a 401K. They're not offered by all businesses, but the majority of sizable ones do, deducting contributions from employees' paychecks and investing the money in the stock market to help them accumulate savings. Tax advantages apply to contributions up to a specific level, and employers may match a portion of employee contributions. Although there are other ways for employees to save for retirement, such as IRAs and pensions, 401K funds account for nearly one-fifth of the $37.2 trillion U.S. retirement market, which is why proponents of the laws lost and found provision believe it is so important for bridging the gap in savings that the country currently faces. According to industry figures, there will be roughly 600,000 plans, 60 million active members, and millions of former employees and retirees in 2020. These accounts had an estimated $7.3 trillion worth of stocks, bonds, cash and other assets as of June 20, 2021. How many people do so when they quit their jobs, and how much does that cost? According to projections from Capitalize, a financial services company that specializes in 401K, there were 24.3 million forgotten 401K funds as of May 2021, with approximately $1.35 trillion in assets, and $2.8 million more left behind each year by people leaving jobs. Over the course of a person's lifetime, forgoing retirement savings due to a forgotten 401K account might cost them close to $700,000. Companies are permitted to roll over forgotten accounts with balances between $1,000 and $5,000 into an IRA under the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001. The issue with that is that those accounts continue to deteriorate. The majority of IRA investments are made in cash or money market accounts, which are the safest but provide the lowest returns. As a result, the fees incurred frequently outweigh any profits the accounts make. Over a 40-year period, the funds would have accumulated an additional $1.51 trillion if they had continued to be invested. According to the independent, tax-exempt research organization, individuals between the ages of 25 and 34 would have saved an additional $659 billion for retirement. What benefit may a nationwide lost and found database provide? Stay tuned for part 2 of this video. Meanwhile, share your thoughts in the comments section below.