Vol.15, September 2026

September Benefits Rundown: Recovering unclaimed benefits + investing in SBA’s growth

Graphic for Mindy’s Benefits Rundown September 2026 issue with a "Play Now" button.

Fall has a way of making change impossible to miss. One day everything is green, and before long the landscape looks completely different.

In our work, change is rarely that obvious. Organizations evolve a little at a time. Workforces shift, needs change, costs creep upward, and processes that once worked well can gradually become less effective. Because each change is small on its own, it’s easy to keep doing things the way we always have.

That’s why periodically taking a fresh look matters. Not because something is necessarily wrong, but because what made sense five or 10 years ago may not be the right fit today. This fall, I’m thinking about the value of noticing what has changed before those small shifts become big ones.

‘Til next time,

Mindy Zatto, FSA, EA, FCA, MAAA, MSPA
Founding Principal, SBA

This Month at SBA

A quick look at what’s new, noteworthy, or just plain useful from our team.

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Case study: Tracking down recipients of long-unclaimed benefits

When a large manufacturer needed to address years of uncashed benefit checks, including high-dollar cases involving participants and beneficiaries who could not be located, SBA went beyond standard search methods to track down the people those benefits belonged to. Within months, we helped deliver more than half of the outstanding checks, including locating the beneficiary of a deceased participant who ultimately claimed more than $2 million in plan benefits. We also helped strengthen the client’s processes going forward, contributing to a 55% reduction in the rate of new outstanding checks over two years.

SBA welcomes Kendra Jeffreys as we continue to grow

SBA has added Operations and People Development Officer Kendra Jeffreys to strengthen the systems, processes, and talent infrastructure supporting our continued growth. Her arrival comes as we mark eight consecutive years on the Atlanta Business Chronicle’s list of Atlanta’s largest employee benefits and compensation companies. Kendra brings more than 20 years of experience in organizational effectiveness, enterprise transformation, project management, and people development.

Ask the Principals

Our leadership team tackles tough questions from plan sponsors like you.

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How many missing participants is too many?

A: There is no universal threshold. The more important question is whether your population of missing participants is growing, how long those individuals have been unresponsive, and whether you have a process in place to find them.

Many plan sponsors underestimate the scope of the issue. Participants change jobs, relocate, change their names, and pass away without updating their information. Over time, stale addresses, inactive accounts, uncashed checks, and missing beneficiaries can quietly accumulate. In fact, industry research suggests that up to one-third of terminated vested records may contain stale addresses, while standard search methods successfully reunite fewer than 10% of missing participants with their benefits.

Missing participants create more than administrative headaches. They can increase compliance risk, complicate audits and plan transactions, and make it more difficult for plan sponsors to fulfill their fiduciary responsibilities. SBA helps plan sponsors identify and locate missing participants and beneficiaries through a comprehensive search process that combines data analysis, targeted research, and direct outreach. Reuniting participants with their benefits helps reduce risk, improve plan administration, and ensure employees receive the retirement benefits they earned.

Tags: DOL, ERISA, lost participants/beneficiaries, plan audits, plan management

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