Frequently Asked Questions
General
Ascensus is the largest independent recordkeeping services provider, third-party administrator, and government savings facilitator in the United States.1 Our independence enables financial advisors and employers to build plans their way—choosing investments and services that support participants’ retirement readiness. Ascensus is well-positioned to bring a world-class experience to you and your participants.
We believe everyone deserves to feel financially secure. That's why Ascensus is helping more people save for a better future. With more than 40 years’ experience, Ascensus is a market-leading enabler of tax-advantaged savings, trusted by more than 15 million people (and counting).
We have over $862 billion in savings assets under administration. We serve more than 260,000+ retirement plans and our 5,100+ associates are passionate about helping clients achieve their goals.2
FuturePlan’s and Ascensus’ shared values and shared commitment to client experience, accountability, collaboration, quality, and integrity formed the foundation of our unification strategy and vision.
You can learn more about us at ascensus.com.
1Cerulli Associates. The Cerulli Report: U.S. Retirement Markets 2024. December 2024.
2As of March 31, 2025.
Plan Migration
Yes, your plan will be migrated to the Ascensus recordkeeping platform. With our focus on maintaining the “best of the best” from each of our organizations, you'll continue to have access to key features of your current experience.
You can expect a smooth journey with minimal action required from you or your participants.
- You do not need to restate your plan documents.
- The fee schedule will be outlined within your recordkeeping service agreement.
- We will migrate data over a weekend, reducing time out of market.
- Once plans have been migrated to the Ascensus platform, you will receive new login instructions.
- Participants will receive instructions on how to re-register in the plan.
Your plan is scheduled to migrate over the weekend of November 14, 2025.
Yes. Trading activity and account updates will be suspended at 4:00 p.m. EST on Wednesday, November 12, 2025. We anticipate trading activity and account updates to resume and the blackout period to end during the week of November 17, 2025.
As a plan sponsor, you can look forward to continuous innovation with benefits that include:
- An enhanced plan sponsor dashboard, with comprehensive retirement plans view
- Flexible payroll processing options—and more Payroll 360 integrations
- A streamlined compliance experience with improved reporting and expert support
- Increased reporting capabilities
Participants will have access to many of the features and functionality they value today, along with ongoing enhancements.
- Investment elections will be mapped over, subject to minor adjustments to fractional investment elections (where applicable).
- Employees will have access to an award-winning financial wellness program that includes virtual financial coaching with Financial Finesse Essential expertise, a personalized action plan, and a variety of educational resources on financial topics.
- Participants will have access to the Ascensus READYSAVE™ retirement plan mobile app
These experiences will continue evolving over time to further streamline your plan administration and provide new ways for your participants to save.
You'll also benefit from additional investments and upgrades behind the scenes when your plan moves. For example, a new customer relationship management tool enables even quicker resolution through expedited access to plan details and tracking. In addition, enhanced workflow technology was upgraded and relaunched for more efficient routing and processing.
Continuity and Enhancements
Ascensus is committed to providing as much continuity as possible in your service model and maintaining the same high level of responsiveness and support you expect. Our model—like all aspects of our business—will continue to evolve over time. However, our primary goal is to continue to deliver the highest quality service to you and your participants, so any change that may take place in the future will be determined with your needs in mind and communicated in advance.
The fee schedule will be outlined within your recordkeeping service agreement.
Once plans have been migrated to the Ascensus platform, you will receive new login instructions.
Yes. Enhanced plan sponsor reporting will be available. More information will be provided prior to your migration dates.
Yes. Your financial advisor has been notified that your retirement plan will be migrated in November and we will continue to keep them—and you— informed along the way. We fully understand the value of working with the financial advisor of your choice on all aspects of your company’s retirement plan, and we are committed to keeping an open line of communication with both you and your financial advisor.
Your current investment options will be automatically mapped to the Ascensus platform. If you'd like to make changes, you can work with your financial advisor to do so in advance of the migration. There is no need to wait until migration is complete to update your investment options.
Ascensus will continue to calculate and report model portfolio performance post migration. Note that the model performance data on statements and the website will be available from the month of the migration (i.e., 'Inception Date' of 11/14/2025). This date serves as the starting point for performance records, and data before this date cannot be retrieved. We understand the importance of having access to comprehensive performance data, but historical allocation and fund changes to the model are not able to be carried over to the new platform. All model portfolio performance data will reflect performance from the month of migration onward.
If your plan currently requires spousal consent for a subset of participants or for a specific money source, after migration, the plan sponsor will be required to approve all distributions online.
If applicable due to plan provision, married participants will be required to have spousal consent on file. A prompt will appear during the request to alert the participant spousal consent is required if a form is not already on file.
Reminder that approvals should be held for seven days prior to finalization of spousal consent.
If you’re not sure if spousal consent applies to your plan, reach out to your client service team.
Terminated, disabled, or retired vested balances under $25 are swept weekly. Balances are automatically swept to the plan sponsor forfeiture account. Plan sponsors are notified by email when any clean up occurs, including a link to details.
Please check the Resources section of this website for ACH Billing and Contribution Funding Changes guidance as well as Distribution Instructions for Funding.
Participants have access to the participant migration website which includes helpful information, timeline milestones, and FAQs. Although the URL for the employee retirement plan website will change, the website functionality will essentially be the same. We are committed to making it easy for you to share what’s happening with your employees and answer any questions they may have. We'll also send an email to participants for whom we have email addresses on file in September, and continue to communicate with them via email as we get closer to migration.
Participants will receive new login information once the migration is complete.
Available after migration, the READYSAVE™ mobile app offers a simple, streamlined, and supportive experience that is driven by data and backed by behavioral science to help participants make more informed decisions throughout their journey to retirement readiness. The app also has a Spanish language option. Participants will receive more information about downloading and using the app as soon as migration is complete.
In addition to the READYSAVETM mobile app, participants will find Spanish and alternative language capabilities:
- On the employee website – the dashboard will still be available in Spanish; transactional pages will not.
- Through the call center – Spanish-speaking representatives and additional licensed and bonded language translation services are available.
- On forms – all standard distribution forms are available in Spanish and posted to all plan websites.
Yes. Data from December 31, 2022, forward will be securely carried over to the Ascensus recordkeeping platform. Statements from prior periods will continue to be available on the employee website.
When requests can be made online, it is recommended participants leverage this web-based functionality for streamlined processing and expedited delivery options.
Participants can also request distributions via a suite of Ascensus transaction forms available on the plan website. Distribution forms are classified by plan type and triggering event, and there is a section to include rollover instructions for Roth funds. Plan forms will be accepted for 60 days post-migration.
As a result of SECURE 2.0 legislation, hardship distribution requests can be self-certified. On the Ascensus platform, participants will be able to self-certify via form and online. Participants may self-certify that their financial need qualifies as a hardship under the plan, and they will retain the supporting documentation to substantiate the reason for the hardship.
After migration, all plan sponsors whose plans offer loans and their participants will be able to request a loan directly online. Loans initiated online will be displayed under pending transactions on the plan website for your review and/or approval. If participants prefer to request a loan with a form, they can model the loan online and print the form for plan sponsor approval. This approach improves accuracy and helps ensure smooth processing. If a participant does not have online access to their retirement account, they can reach out to Participant Services for assistance.
After migration, terminated participants may change their address by calling the Participant Service Center. Participants may also change their address at the time of a distribution by submitting the snap-on Contact Change form with the Separation from Service distribution form. Note: There is a 14-day hold on distributions that are submitted with address changes.
At the time of migration, all participants for all plans will be able to designate beneficiaries using the Online Beneficiary Designation function on the employee website. Some fields under online beneficiary election will not carry directly over post-migration, including Social Security number and percentage per beneficiary (if more than one/whole percentages only). Participants will be prompted to review and update their online beneficiary elections after migration.
Where applicable, participants will also be prompted to re-establish and update their investment election, auto-rebalance election, and/or auto-increase deferral election.
Yes, when your plan moves to Ascensus, you’ll have Financial Wellness Essentials, an award-winning financial wellness program from Financial Finesse, built into your retirement plan. Employees can look forward to:
- Virtual financial coaching backed by research and Certified Financial Planner (CFP®) expertise
- A personalized action plan and helpful tools to stay on track
- Educational resources covering a wide range of financial topics and diverse perspectives
Your plan currently has the option for participants to set up an automatic deferral (savings rate) increase at a preset frequency. The new platform also has the option for automatic increases which are standardized, on the first day of each calendar year, to an annual increase of 1%, with a maximum rate of 10%.
If participants want to continue using an auto-increase election, they will need to set up an automatic deferral with the standardized option on the employee website after the plan goes live the week in November. Participants with an email address on file will be reminded of any needed action, if applicable.
After migration, participants should re-establish their automatic rebalance elections (if applicable). Otherwise, the auto-rebalance will not continue after migration. Participants with an email address on file will be reminded of any needed action, if applicable.
Participants can request distributions and other transactions via a suite of Ascensus transaction forms available on the employee website. Each form indicates the triggering event for the distribution. Existing plan forms will be accepted for 60 days after migration.
Last updated August 6, 2025
Additional questions?
Your client service representative is here to support you every step of the way. Feel free to reach out with any questions.