The Labor Department's lost-and-found database locates forgotten retirement plans

The Employee Benefits Security Administration, part of the Department of Labor, has opened the Retirement Savings Lost and Found Database. It is a public tool created under the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022, and the agency describes the site as the single stop for people hunting for retirement benefits they have lost track of.

Getting in requires a valid, ID-proofed Login.gov account. After verification, the department redirects the user to a search page tied to a Social Security number. The database pulls from private-sector employer plans and union plans. It leaves out IRAs, government-sponsored plans, plans from certain religious organizations, and Social Security benefits. The Labor Department says the tool is meant to help workers and beneficiaries find retirement plans that may still owe them benefits.

The SECURE 2.0 Act, signed into law in 2022, was designed to broaden retirement savings for American workers. The database acknowledges that plans are easy to abandon when people switch jobs. The trail often goes cold.

A hit on a search shows only that the person took part in a plan at some point. The benefits could have been distributed, rolled into another account, or turned into an annuity. The plan administrator is the one to ask whether money remains. The database exists to get the client to that administrator.

For advisors, the tool deserves a slot in the annual review. The client logs in with an identity-proofed account, so the advisor never handles the credential. A search that uncovers a plan from a job held decades ago is a tangible moment of service. But set expectations first: a match is not a payout, and only the plan administrator decides whether a claim survives. Offer it as a standing agenda item, or send the client a reminder to run the search before the meeting. It is a five-minute exercise that gives clients a regular check on a corner of their finances that often goes untouched.