Escalent's Cogent: 46% of former-employer DC plan holders highly likely to open rollover IRA

Forty-six percent of DC participants who still hold assets in a former employer's plan say they are highly likely to open a rollover IRA in the next 12 months. The finding comes from the 2026 DC Participant Planscape report from Escalent's Cogent Syndicated, a division of the Livonia, Michigan research and advisory firm.

The study surveyed 4,006 U.S. DC plan participants between July 7 and July 28, 2026, and found the former-employer plan balances they hold average $90,000 per participant. The report was published Oct. 14, 2026.

Gen Z's share of likely rollover candidates rose to 22% in 2026 from 12% in 2025, while millennials climbed to 44% from 37%. Black and African-American participants accounted for 25% of likely candidates, up from 15%, and Hispanic and Latino participants rose to 21% from 17%, according to Cogent.

Cogent identifies a behavioral difference between the younger rollover candidates and older ones: the job change is not the only trigger. Sonia Davis, lead report author and a senior product director in the Cogent Syndicated division, said Gen Z and millennial participants respond to rollover education around life events as well.

"Beyond job changes and open enrollment, Gen Z and Millennial participants are markedly more receptive to rollover IRA education when experiencing major life events like marriage, divorce or birth of a child or upon hitting key professional milestones," Davis said.

Davis cautioned that firms also face a higher incidence of friction among these younger participants, who are more likely to feel overwhelmed by paperwork, according to the research.

InvestmentNews, which reported the survey, has previously reported that Gen Z is outpacing older generations in DC plan participation rates and entering the workforce with stronger savings habits than any prior cohort. That pattern, the outlet suggested, now appears to feed into earlier and more active rollover consideration.

Plan advisers and recordkeepers reading the intent numbers have a reason to look past the headline percentage. The candidate pool for a rollover IRA is not shrinking as it diversifies by age and ethnicity; it is repopulating with participants who are earlier in their careers and, per the survey, more responsive to guidance delivered at life events rather than only at the point of separation from an employer.

Intent is not a completed rollover, and the report measures intent. But the share of participants who describe themselves as highly likely to move former-plan assets is the number any provider of rollover IRAs, advice or managed accounts is competing over, and the demographic mix of that group is what shapes where education spending goes next.