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Key Takeaways
- Open enrollment season is a natural yearly cue to check on old 401(k)s from previous jobs, not just health and dental elections.
- Nearly 32 million 401(k) accounts holding more than $2 trillion sit forgotten with former employers.
- Old 401(k)s you lose track of can potentially drift out of your target investment mix, quietly rack up fees, or even get automatically transferred into a low-yield IRA.
- The IRS raised the 2026 401(k) employee contribution limit to $24,500, and next year's limit is expected to be announced soon.
- Beneficiary designations on an old 401(k) override instructions in a will, so it's worth confirming they still reflect your wishes.
Open enrollment usually means clicking through health insurance, dental, and flexible spending account elections before a deadline. It's also a good time to check on retirement accounts you've left behind at previous jobs. If you've changed roles even once, there's a chance an old 401(k) is still sitting with a former employer, quietly collecting fees or drifting away from the investment mix you originally chose.
What Does Open Enrollment Have to Do With Your Old 401(k)s?
Employer benefits enrollment periods typically run in the fall, ahead of coverage or plan changes that take effect the following January. The exact timing varies by company and can kick off as early as August or September. That annual routine already has you logging into HR systems and thinking about your finances for the year ahead, which makes it a natural trigger for a yearly checkup on every retirement account tied to your name, not just the one connected to your current paycheck.
Think about your own career path for a second. A new job every few years has become the norm, and each move can mean leaving a 401(k) behind at a former employer. Add it up over a working life, and workers have held an average of 12 jobs between ages 18 and 56. Without a recurring reminder, those accounts are easy to lose track of entirely.
How Many Old 401(k)s Are Actually Sitting Forgotten?
Somewhere between a first job and today, it's easy to leave a 401(k) behind and never think about it again. That happens far more often than most people realize. Left-behind 401(k) accounts are now estimated to be near 32 million accounts holding more than $2 trillion in assets. The average forgotten balance has climbed to $66,691 as of March 2026.
The cost of that kind of forgetting isn't just theoretical. Research from PensionBee and the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) found that a typical worker with a handful of forgotten balances may retire with $90,000 less than peers who kept their savings in standard retirement plans, largely because those balances often sit in cash-heavy holdings that barely keep pace with inflation. Most people also don't see this coming, since just 35% know accounts can be forced out into a Safe Harbor IRA without their consent. Checking in on an old 401(k) regularly can be a simple t way to stay in control of it, rather than finding out later it was moved in without your say.
What Should You Check on an Old 401(k) During Open Enrollment?
1. Is It Still Invested the Way You Want?
An account you haven't touched since you left the job is probably still parked in whatever fund it defaulted into or you chose years ago. The longer a 401(k) sits unattended, the easier it is to lose track of it or let the mix drift away from your current needs. Log in and check whether your allocation still matches your age, timeline, and risk tolerance, since a mix that made sense five jobs ago may not anymore.
2. What Are You Paying in Fees?
Providers are required to send you a fee disclosure breaking down what you're paying at least once a year, covering each fund's expense ratio and any administrative charges. Pull up that document for each old plan and compare it with what a consolidated IRA or other retirement account would charge, since small percentage differences can compound over decades.
3. Are Your Beneficiaries Still Correct?
Beneficiary designations override what's in your will, so whoever is listed on an old 401(k) may receive the account balance even if the will says otherwise. If no beneficiary is named, a balance typically defaults to your plan's own order, often starting with your spouse, followed by children, and ultimately your estate. Confirming the designation on file, especially after a marriage, divorce, or new child, keeps that money going where you actually intend it to go.
4. Could Your Balance Have Already Moved Without You?
Small balances don't always stay where you left them. Under SECURE 2.0, the threshold for automatic rollovers rose from $5,000 to $7,000, meaning more small balances now qualify for this treatment. If you're eligible and don't make an election, the balance may be transferred into a Safe Harbor IRA automatically, often without you realizing it happened. Those accounts can frequently sit for years in cash-heavy products with fees that can potentially erode savings. Contacting your former plan administrator or the IRA provider named in whatever notice you may have missed is a good place to start tracking down where a vanished balance landed.
