If you think you have old and forgotten retirement plans lying around with your previous employers, there may be a way to track it down now.

The Department of Labor (DOL) has launched a 'Retirement Savings Lost and Found Database' to help people find their old pension plans and 401(k)s.

In May 2023, there were over $29 million forgotten 401(k) accounts in the U.S., with assets of worth more than $1.6 trillion, according to Capitalize, a fintech company. To fix that, SECURE 2.0, a federal retirement law passed in 2022 mandated the creation of this service.

The new database allows individuals to search for workplace retirement plans—like defined pension plans and 401(k)s—that they held with previous employers. However, some say the database could have limited usefulness for retirement savers.

What Can This Database Do and How Do You Access It?

This database will only be useful for people who have worked for a private sector employer, participated in a workplace retirement plan and qualified for benefits through that employer.

To start, you would have to access the database online. The first step, would be to create an online account and verify your identity by providing certain documents, including your Social Security number as well as an active driver's license.

If someone has only worked for employers in the public sector—such as city, state, or federal agencies, they may not be eligible to use the service. This is because the database doesn't provide information on retirement plans sponsored by the government or religious organizations.If you're worried about your data privacy, you can also opt out of having your data included in the service.

What The 401(k) Lost and Found Can't Do

But the database is far from perfect.

Michael Kreps, Retirement Services Chair at Groom Law Group, said the database may not be very useful as the data that the DOL has collected so far, and continues to collect, is flawed.

"If you've populated a database with stale data, then [it's] garbage in, garbage out—you're gonna get stale information back," Kreps said.

For example, the database doesn't indicate whether someone's retirement benefits have already been rolled over, paid out, or provided as an annuity. That means individuals will have to call their plan administrator or the company that manages the retirement plan to determine whether their benefits are still in that plan.

"It's not the end of the world for a participant to search the database, call, and find a plan," said Kreps. "But it is kind of confusing and misleading to people to say, 'hey, you might have a benefit with this employer you worked at 20 years ago.'"