You probably left some cash in an old desk drawer once. Maybe a twenty-dollar bill? It felt great to find. Now, imagine that drawer is an old HR portal you haven't logged into since 2018, and that twenty dollars is actually $66,691.
That is the average balance of a "forgotten" 401(k) in the United States right now.
Honestly, it sounds fake. How do you just "forget" sixty-six grand? But according to a massive 2025 update from Capitalize, Americans are forgetting about trillions of dollars in retirement savings at an alarming rate. We are talking about $2.1 trillion sitting in roughly 31.9 million abandoned accounts.
That’s a lot of "lost" money.
The $2.1 trillion ghost ship
The problem has basically doubled in the last decade. Back in 2014, there were about 18 million of these ghost accounts. Now? Nearly 32 million.
Why is this happening? You’ve probably lived the reason. We switch jobs constantly. The "Great Resignation" and the subsequent tech layoffs of 2023 and 2024 created a tidal wave of people walking away from their desks and—critically—leaving their 401(k)s behind.
When you’re trying to figure out your new commute or how to set up your new Slack profile, the last thing you want to do is navigate a clunky 15-page rollover form. So, you tell yourself you’ll "do it next month."
Next month becomes next year. Next year becomes a forgotten password and an old email address you can’t access anymore.
Why "leaving it alone" is a bad move
A lot of people think, "Eh, it's fine. It's still invested, right?"
Sorta. But there are three big reasons why "parked" money is actually bleeding value:
- Fees are eating your lunch: When you aren't an active employee, some plans hit you with higher administrative fees. You aren't there to complain, so the plan provider just trims a bit off the top every month.
- The "Zombie" Allocation: Maybe you picked a risky tech fund in 2015. Now you're ten years older and your risk tolerance has changed, but that money is still riding the roller coaster without a pilot.
- The Check in the Mail: This is the worst one. If your balance is small (usually under $7,000 thanks to the SECURE 2.0 Act), your old boss can actually kick you out of the plan. They’ll cut a check and mail it to your last known address. If you've moved? That check is sitting in a pile of junk mail or a state unclaimed property office.
How to find your "lost" retirement money
The government finally realized this was a disaster. As of early 2025, the Department of Labor (DOL) launched the Retirement Savings Lost and Found Database. It’s basically a search engine for your missing 401(k)s.
But it isn't the only way. If you think you've got money floating in the ether, here is exactly how you track it down.
1. The DOL "Lost and Found"
Go to the official lostandfound.dol.gov site. You'll need a Login.gov account, which involves a bit of a process—you’ll likely need to snap a photo of your driver's license. Once you're in, you can search by your Social Security number to see if any plan administrators have flagged you as a "missing participant."
2. Search the National Registry
The National Registry of Unclaimed Retirement Benefits is a private database where many employers list former workers they can't find. It’s free to search and is often faster than the government site if your old company was a large corporation.
3. Check with the "Big Three"
Most 401(k) plans in the U.S. are managed by a handful of giants: Fidelity, Vanguard, or Charles Schwab. If you remember even a sliver of your old job’s benefits package, call their general customer service line.
Tell them: "I worked for [Company Name] between 2016 and 2019. Can you check if there is a sub-account tied to my SSN?" You’d be surprised how often this works.
4. The Unclaimed Property trick
If a company closed down or they already "cashed you out" but the check never reached you, that money eventually goes to the state. Use MissingMoney.com. It’s a multi-state database endorsed by the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators (NAUPA). Search every state you have ever lived in.
Don't let it happen again
Once you find the money—and seriously, go look, because the odds are 1 in 5 that you have an old account—you need to move it.
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You have two real choices. You can roll it into your current employer’s 401(k) if they allow it. This is great for keeping everything in one place.
Or, you can open a Rollover IRA. This is usually the "expert" move because IRAs generally have way more investment options and lower fees than a standard company 401(k). Plus, you own it forever. No matter how many times you change jobs, that IRA stays with you.
Actionable Next Steps
- List your old jobs: Grab a piece of paper and write down every company you worked for since you were 22.
- Dig through your "Old Paper" box: Look for anything that says "Summary Plan Description" or has a logo like T. Rowe Price or Empower.
- Check the DOL database tonight: It takes 10 minutes to set up the login.
- Consolidate: If you find three small accounts, roll them all into one IRA. It's much harder to forget one big pile of money than four tiny ones.
Americans are forgetting about trillions of dollars in retirement savings, but that doesn't mean you have to. If you spent years working for that money, don't let a forgotten password be the reason you don't get to spend it.