Household Rollovers Reach New Heights

More U.S. households are moving investable assets, with rollovers reaching an estimated $1 trillion in 2025, according to research firm Hearts & Wallets.

Its recent market intelligence report, “Money Movement 2025: Sizing and Seizing the Biggest Opportunities in Competitive Rollover, Transfers and Trial,” found that rollovers into plans sponsored by new employers totaled an estimated $160 billion in 2025, doubling from $80 billion in 2022.

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Where, When to Roll Over

Most households still prefer to roll over their retirement savings to individual retirement accounts, but plans offered by new employers are becoming increasingly popular, especially for households in the “late career” life stage, defined by the report as ages 53 through 64, with no plans to immediately retire.

New Employer Plan Rollovers By Life Stage

Percentage of rollover transactions transferred to a new employer-sponsored retirement plan, 2016 vs. 2025.

2016
2025
All
12%
21%
Emerging Career
18%
23%
Early Career
15%
23%
Mid-Career
13%
25%
Late Career
12%
29%
Pre-Retiree/FES
9%
15%
Retiree
4%
13%
Source: Hearts & Wallets.

“Firms that understand overall money movement data may find they need to change the way they do business to capitalize on opportunities,” said Laura Varas, CEO and founder of Hearts & Wallets, in a statement.

Among different types of money movement transactions, 16% of rollovers included in the dataset in 2025 were greater than $100,000; 12% of transfers of assets were greater than $100,000; and new accounts funded with deposits and cash-outs were mostly worth less than $10,000, according to the report.

In the last year, 74 million households recently moved or reported thinking about moving investable assets. Of that group, 40.9 million reported having moved money in the last year and that they are considering moving more; 21.8 million reported they moved money in the last year but are not planning additional moves; and 11 million reported no money movement, but they are considering doing so.

The financial institutions with the highest net flows in rollovers included Charles Schwab, Edward Jones, Vanguard, Raymond James and LPL, according to the report.

The Decision to Roll Over

Hearts & Wallets, using data from the Investor Quantitative Database, which interviewed 5,981 households from July 17 through August 9, 2025, found that two-thirds of rollover transactions and amounts were not decided on until at least six months after departure from a job. The No. 1 factor motivating rollover transactions in the U.S, playing a role in almost 40% of respondents’ rollovers, was to simplify finances, according to the report. Factors like “adviser suggested it” or “adviser changed firms” motivated about 20% of rollovers.

In terms of dollars, “consolidate for planning” played a role in motivating $450 billion of the $1 trillion that changed accounts by rollover in the past year, as estimated by Hearts & Wallets.

Looking ahead, Hearts & Wallets projected that “simplifying finances” and “better planning” will remain top influences of future rollover transactions, but “lower fees” and “get more advice” could have more influence on future rollover transactions than previously.

“Flows can be increased by [advisers] emphasizing the right factors at the right times for specific-target audiences,” said Amber Katris, a Hearts & Wallets subject matter expert, in a statement.

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