Gen Z and Millennials Highly Likely to Rollover IRA in Next Year

LIVONIA, Mich., Oct. 14, 2026 /CourierPR/ -- Nearly half (46%) of DC plan participants, holding an average of $90,000 in former employer-sponsored retirement plan (ESRP) assets, are highly likely to open a rollover Individual Retirement Account (IRA) in the next year. This candidate pool is shifting to younger and more diverse cohorts, creating an opportunity for retirement plan providers to rethink when and how they engage participants about rollover options. According to the latest DC Participant Planscape™ report from Cogent Syndicated by Escalent, nearly half (46%) of DC plan participants, holding an average of $90,000 in former employer-sponsored retirement plan (ESRP) assets, are highly likely to open a rollover Individual Retirement Account (IRA) in the next year. The profile of rollover IRA candidates skewed younger in 2026, with Gen Z representation nearly doubling to 22% from 12% last year and Millennials rising to 44% from 37%. Likewise, there is greater representation from Black/African-American (25% vs. 15%) and Hispanic/Latino (21% vs. 17%) participants.

The latest research also reveals important behavioral and marketing distinctions. Younger, diverse cohorts are more amenable to rollover IRA education across different periods and experience a wider set of challenges compared with their older counterparts.

Overcoming these rollover IRA barriers is critical for financial services providers vying to turn interest into action, especially as competition from external firms continues to grow. More than one-fifth (22%) of participants, up from 14% in 2024 and 19% in 2025, now plan to roll assets to a brand-new, nonincumbent firm. In fact, Gen Z (33%) and Millennial (30%) participants voiced greater intent to open an IRA with another firm and roll the money into that account.

The research was conducted by Cogent Syndicated, a division of Escalent, which surveyed a representative cross-section of 4,006 DC plan participants from July 7 to July 28, 2026. Survey participants were required to be 18 years or older and contribute at least 1% to a current plan and/or have $5,000 or more in at least one former plan. Targets were set to investor gender, region, age, education, and household income using US census data filtered by the screening criteria (a market-sizing flyover survey was used to filter the US census data). The data have a margin of error of ±1.55% at the 95% confidence level. Escalent will supply the exact wording of any survey question upon request.

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