Every large retirement plan lists its service providers on Schedule C of its Form 5500, including the firm that keeps its records. Comparing each plan's 2023 and 2024 filings shows which recordkeepers gained plans and which lost them.
The Headline Numbers
- 2,390 defined contribution plans moved from one recordkeeper to another.
- Those plans held $223 billion and covered 3.4 million participants.
- Fidelity had the largest net gain by far: 518 plans won, 83 lost, and $99 billion in assets brought in.
- Principal, Empower and ADP also added more plans than they lost. Vanguard, Newport Group, Nationwide and Mutual of America lost the most on net.
Plans Won and Lost, 2024
The 14 recordkeepers with the most plans won or lost. Assets won are the plans' 2024 year-end assets; assets lost are the departing plans' 2023 year-end assets.
| Recordkeeper | Plans Won | Plans Lost | Net | Assets Won | Assets Lost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fidelity Investments | 518 | 83 | +435 | $99.4B | $6.1B |
| Empower | 363 | 271 | +92 | $28.8B | $38.5B |
| Principal Financial Group | 284 | 183 | +101 | $9.9B | $10.4B |
| ADP | 219 | 153 | +66 | $4.4B | $2.2B |
| John Hancock | 121 | 156 | −35 | $5.6B | $3.4B |
| Transamerica | 92 | 144 | −52 | $7.1B | $13.1B |
| Vanguard | 49 | 137 | −88 | $5.6B | $15.3B |
| Voya Financial | 127 | 124 | +3 | $8.6B | $8.4B |
| Nationwide | 29 | 102 | −73 | $1.4B | $1.7B |
| Newport Group | 14 | 98 | −84 | $0.9B | $3.5B |
| Ascensus | 45 | 83 | −38 | $0.8B | $1.8B |
| Mutual of America | 25 | 81 | −56 | $0.2B | $0.8B |
| Paychex | 41 | 61 | −20 | $0.4B | $0.7B |
| Charles Schwab | 58 | 60 | −2 | $6.5B | $4.4B |
The Biggest Moves
A handful of very large plans account for much of the money that changed hands:
- Apple's 401(k) plan ($24.7 billion, 145,000 participants) moved from Empower to Fidelity.
- Accenture's U.S. 401(k) plan ($21.3 billion) moved from Alight to Merrill.
- Thermo Fisher Scientific's 401(k) plan ($10.3 billion) moved from T. Rowe Price to Fidelity.
- Tyson Foods' plan ($3.7 billion, 128,000 participants) moved from Northwest Plan Services to Fidelity.
Switching Has Slowed
Counting every plan type and every firm, the number of plans changing recordkeepers each year has fallen by more than a quarter since 2016, from 3,958 to 2,866. Most of that decline came before 2023. Part of the drop since then is a rule change rather than fewer moves: from 2023, defined contribution plans count only participants with an account balance, so fewer plans file the provider list that names a recordkeeper.
How We Counted
- A switch means the plan's recordkeeper on its 2024 Form 5500 is a different firm from the one on its 2023 filing. Plans are followed across renames and plan-number changes.
- A firm being bought or renamed is not a switch. Plans move with the business to the buyer.
- The table and headline numbers count defined contribution plans, such as 401(k) and 403(b) plans, moving between recognized recordkeeping firms. Across all plan types and all providers there were 2,866 changes covering $421 billion.
- Only plans large enough to file Schedule C (generally 100 or more participants) name their recordkeeper.
- Some 2024 filings arrive late, so the 2024 count may still rise a little as they come in.
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