A Rapid Rollover
HR Innovator Magazine - July 2003
Countless workers have a tendency to cash out their 401(k) assets when they change jobs - often incurring heavy taxes and penalties - rather than roll over those assets into an IRA Account. Maybe that's because the traditional rollover process tends to be cumbersome and slow, and the last thing job changers want are more hassles.
Enter Reginald Bowser, an enterprising young financial-services wiz who moved quickly from positions with LendingTree and T. Rowe Price into his own entrepreneurial space. As president and CEO of Charlotte, NC - based RolloverSystems, Bowser and his team have introduced a proprietary technology that allows job changers to fill out a simple form online (www.rollovermarket.com) and receive multiple IRA offers from leading financial service institutions - all in about 25 minutes, as opposed to the weeks it traditionally takes.
"You have some 14 million people switching jobs every year, and many of them don't know what to do with their 401(k)s," Bowser says. "Should they cash out or leave it? If they had a smart way to deal with it, they would. Streamlining the process is what we're all about."
Bowser says that his is the only software application that lets 401(k) holders fill out rollover information and compare competing offers in a matter of minutes, and so far his firm has racked up some strong partnerships. Most recently, CareerBuilder.com chose RolloverSystems to power its Rollover Center. Other distribution plums for Bowser include a deal with HR outsourcer HR XCEL Inc. And now RolloverSystems is offering its systems directly to employers. Bowser notes this could be a way for employers to mitigate some of the legal liability associated with handling 401(k) accounts.
