Alight Solutions 401(k) Rollover: Hewitt Rebrand, myalight.com Portal & Step-by-Step Guide (2026)

Alight Solutions — formerly Aon Hewitt, formerly Hewitt Associates — is one of the largest employee benefits administrators in the United States, serving tens of millions of employees and their families at major corporations. Most participants never know they are "on Alight": their benefits portal carries their employer's name and branding, and correspondence may still reference old Hewitt or Aon Hewitt identities. This guide covers how to locate your 401(k) within the Alight platform, how to initiate a direct rollover, typical processing timelines, and five Alight-specific traps — including the administrator-vs.-recordkeeper distinction that causes most Alight rollover confusion, the annual match true-up timing that can cost thousands if you leave at the wrong time, and the Alight Financial Solutions advisory fee that many participants pay without realizing it.

Understanding the Alight platform: Hewitt, Aon Hewitt, and Alight

Alight Solutions is the product of a three-decade chain of acquisitions and rebrandings. Hewitt Associates was founded in 1940 as an employee benefits consulting firm. After decades of growth as a leading HR and benefits outsourcing company, Aon plc acquired Hewitt Associates in 2010 for approximately $4.9 billion, combining the two entities under the name Aon Hewitt. In 2017, Aon sold its benefits administration business unit to a private-equity consortium led by Blackstone; the spun-off company was rebranded as Alight Solutions and has operated under that name since. Alight went public on the New York Stock Exchange (ticker: ALIT) in 2021.

Throughout each of these transitions, participant account data, plan documents, investment options, and contribution histories were retained on the same underlying platform. No assets were "transferred" to a new financial institution during the Hewitt → Aon Hewitt → Alight rebrand. What changed was the name, the portal branding, and the login URL — not the financial substance of participant accounts.

Alight as benefits administrator vs. 401(k) recordkeeper

Alight's role varies significantly by employer contract, and this distinction determines exactly how to initiate your rollover. There are two common configurations:

• Alight as full-service recordkeeper: Alight holds the plan assets in trust, processes all contributions and distributions, maintains participant account records, and provides the participant portal. Distribution requests can typically be initiated directly through myalight.com or the employer's Alight-powered portal. Alight generates the distribution check or wire.
• Alight as benefits administrator with a separate recordkeeper: Alight handles HR systems integration, open enrollment, and the participant communication experience, but the underlying plan assets are held and administered by a separate financial institution — often Fidelity, Vanguard, Empower, State Street, or another major custodian. In this case, your 401(k) account may appear in the Alight portal as a summary, with a link to the actual recordkeeper's site for transactions. Distributions must be initiated through the underlying recordkeeper, not through Alight.

To identify your configuration: log in to your Alight portal (myalight.com or your employer's custom URL) and navigate to your 401(k) account. If you can view your full investment holdings, transaction history, and a distribution request form from within that portal, Alight is the recordkeeper or acts as one. If the portal shows a summary balance and a "Go to your plan website" or "Manage investments at [custodian name]" link, your actual recordkeeper is elsewhere — click through to that site to initiate the rollover, and consult the relevant guide (e.g., the Fidelity, Vanguard, or Empower guide).

Step-by-step: Rolling FROM an Alight-administered 401(k)

Step 1 — Log in and identify your plan configuration

Go to myalight.com or your employer's custom benefits portal and sign in. If you have forgotten your credentials or your login was set up under an old Hewitt Associates or Aon Hewitt account, use the password reset function on the login page — you will typically need your Social Security Number and date of birth to re-establish access. If self-service reset does not work, call Alight participant services; the number is listed in your portal and on your most recent account statement.

Once logged in, navigate to your 401(k) or retirement account section. Confirm whether you are seeing the full recordkeeping view (investment holdings, individual fund balances, transaction history) or a summary view that links to an external system. Your rollover initiation path depends on which applies — see the administrator-vs.-recordkeeper section above.

While in your account, note your current total balance, your vested balance (which may be less than your total balance if employer contributions are subject to a vesting schedule), any outstanding loan balance, and the composition of your investments — particularly whether you hold a stable value fund, employer stock, or any proprietary fund that may have transfer restrictions.

Step 2 — Check for the annual match true-up and vesting cliff

Before finalizing your separation timing, review two items in your plan's Summary Plan Description (SPD), available through your Alight portal under Plan Documents or Summary Plan Description:

1. Annual match true-up: If your employer's plan uses an annual true-up provision, a supplemental employer contribution posts in the first quarter of the following year to reconcile the full-year match. Leaving before this true-up posts — and before any active employment requirement at year-end is met — may forfeit this amount. (See Trap #3 for the full mechanics.)
2. Vesting cliff proximity: Large-employer plans often use 3-year cliff or 6-year graded vesting for employer contributions. If you are within weeks or months of a vesting cliff, review the unvested amount before setting your last day. See the vesting schedule guide for mechanics and examples.

Step 3 — Check for stable value equity wash restriction

If your plan holds a stable value fund — common in large Fortune 500 plans — call Alight participant services and ask: "Does the stable value fund in my plan have a competing fund restriction or equity wash provision, and if so, how many days is the hold period?" This question takes under five minutes and can save three months of delay.

If an equity wash restriction exists, the most efficient approach is to transfer the stable value balance to an equity option inside the plan (such as a broad market index fund) before or on your last day while you still have active participant portal access. This starts the hold period clock while the rest of your account (non-stable-value assets) can roll immediately.

Step 4 — Open the receiving IRA before initiating

Open the rollover IRA at your chosen custodian before contacting Alight. You will need the receiving IRA's account number and exact FBO payee instructions — the legal name the payment should be made payable to (e.g., "Fidelity Management Trust Company FBO [Your Full Legal Name]") — before initiating the distribution request. See the custodian comparison guide for a Fidelity vs. Vanguard vs. Schwab breakdown.

Step 5 — Initiate the direct rollover request

In your Alight portal (or the underlying recordkeeper's portal if applicable), navigate to the distribution or rollover section and select Direct Rollover to an IRA. Enter the receiving IRA's account number and FBO payee name. A direct rollover sends funds to the receiving institution without passing through your hands — the 20% mandatory federal withholding under IRC § 3405(c) does not apply.¹

If you are married and your plan is subject to ERISA's qualified joint and survivor annuity rules, Alight will flag a spousal consent requirement. Notarized spousal consent is typically required within a specific window — complete this step promptly to avoid delays.

If distribution initiation is not available online for your plan, call Alight participant services. Some plans — particularly those using group annuity contract structures — require a paper distribution form submitted by mail or fax. Paper form processing adds 5–10 business days beyond standard Alight processing time.

Step 6 — Confirm posting and invest the proceeds

Follow up with the receiving IRA custodian 3–5 business days after they receive the wire or check. Once posted, the rollover funds will sit in the IRA's settlement or money market position — they are not automatically invested. Log in to the receiving IRA and confirm your investment election to avoid leaving the proceeds uninvested indefinitely.

Processing timelines

5 Alight-specific rollover traps

1. Hewitt → Aon Hewitt → Alight rebrand — lost credentials, old search results, old confusion

The Hewitt-to-Alight journey spanned three names over two decades. Participants who enrolled in their employer's 401(k) before 2010 may have original Hewitt Associates login credentials, Hewitt-addressed quarterly statements, and bookmarks to the old Hewitt portal. Participants who enrolled between 2010 and 2017 may reference "my Aon Hewitt 401k" without realizing the company was rebranded again. The result: many participants searching for their account type "Hewitt 401k rollover" or "Aon Hewitt rollover" into a search engine and find outdated information, dead links, or general Aon pages unrelated to their retirement account.

The account has not moved to a new financial institution through any of these rebrands. Plan assets were retained on the same underlying platform; only the name and portal branding changed. If Hewitt-era or Aon Hewitt-era credentials fail at myalight.com, use the "Forgot Username/Password" function with your Social Security Number and date of birth. If self-service reset does not work, call Alight participant services — the number is on your most recent statement, even if that statement still references an older brand name.

One additional complication: Alight acquired several smaller benefits administration firms over the years (including Hodges-Mace, a voluntary benefits company, and NGA HR, a global HR services provider). Participants from employers that used those firms may also find themselves on the Alight platform under different historical identities. If your plan documents or correspondence reference any of these names, call Alight participant services for confirmation that your account is accessible at myalight.com.

2. Company-branded portal — the Alight layer is invisible

Most large employers using Alight do not display the Alight name prominently on their benefits portal. Instead, the participant sees their employer's logo, their employer's color scheme, and a URL like "benefits.yourcompany.com" — all powered by Alight's Worklife® platform in the background. Many participants have used their company's benefits site for years without knowing Alight is the underlying vendor.

This creates a rollover-specific problem: participants leaving their job search "how to roll over my 401k" and do not find useful information because they do not know the name of their plan's administrator. They may contact their former HR department (who may tell them to "call Alight") or try to search for their company name alongside "401k rollover" and find nothing. The resolution is straightforward: log in to your company's benefits portal, navigate to the 401(k) account section, and look for the Alight name in the footer, on the account statement, or in plan documents. Once confirmed, myalight.com is your primary access point post-separation.

Post-separation access to the Alight portal typically persists for a period after your last day — but active participant status may be revoked after a plan-specific window. If you leave your job, access your Alight account promptly and update your contact information (email and mailing address) to ensure distribution confirmation notices and FBO check mailings reach you.

3. Annual match true-up timing — leaving mid-year can forfeit thousands

Many Fortune 500 employers using Alight implement their employer match with an annual true-up provision. Under this design, the plan matches your contributions pay-period by pay-period throughout the year (e.g., 50% of contributions up to 6% of salary per paycheck), but at year-end the plan reconciles whether the total match paid equals the full promised employer contribution (e.g., 3% of total annual salary). If it does not — because you front-loaded contributions early in the year and stopped contributing, or because your compensation was irregular — a supplemental "true-up" matching contribution posts in Q1 of the following year.

The trap: many true-up provisions require active employment at year-end, or at the time the true-up posts, to receive the supplemental contribution. An employee who leaves in September may receive regular match contributions through their last paycheck but forfeit the Q1 true-up that would have reconciled their full year's employer match.

To check whether your plan has a true-up provision and whether it requires active employment: read the Employer Contributions section of your Summary Plan Description (SPD), available through myalight.com under Plan Documents. The SPD will state the matching formula, whether a year-end true-up applies, and any active employment requirement. If the SPD is ambiguous, call Alight participant services and ask specifically: "Does my plan have an annual match true-up, and does receiving the true-up require active employment at year-end or when the contribution is posted?"

4. Stable value fund equity wash restriction

Large employer 401(k) plans routinely include a stable value fund — a pooled fixed-income investment product backed by a group annuity or insurance contract that offers a declared credited interest rate without the mark-to-market volatility of a bond fund. These products are common in Alight-administered plans because Fortune 500 plan sponsors often include them as a capital preservation option alongside an equity fund lineup.

The insurance contract backing most stable value funds contains a competing fund restriction — known as an equity wash provision — that prohibits moving assets directly from the stable value fund to a "competing" stable option. The contractual definition of a competing fund typically includes money market funds, short-term bond funds, and — critically — an IRA settlement account or money market position at the receiving custodian. The insurer imposes this restriction to protect against disintermediation: if participants could instantly move stable value assets into equivalent low-risk alternatives, the insurer would lose the guaranteed return spread.

In practice: if your plan holds a stable value fund and you want to roll over your entire account immediately, you cannot. You must first transfer the stable value assets to an equity option inside the plan (e.g., the S&P 500 or total market index fund), hold them there for the restriction period — typically 90 days — and only then roll those assets to your IRA. Non-stable-value assets can roll immediately in a separate distribution.

Practical approach:

1. Call Alight participant services: "Does the stable value fund in my plan have a competing fund restriction, and what is the hold period?"
2. If yes: transfer the stable value balance to an equity option inside the plan on your last day or shortly before. This starts the equity wash clock.
3. Initiate a direct rollover of all non-stable-value assets immediately.
4. After the equity wash period clears (typically 90 days), initiate a second distribution of the former stable value balance to your IRA. Many Alight plans permit separated participants to initiate additional distributions through the portal after the first rollover has completed.

5. Alight Financial Solutions advisory fee — an in-plan charge many participants pay without realizing it

Alight Financial Solutions (formerly Hewitt Financial Services) is Alight's in-plan financial advisory service. It operates as a registered investment advisor offering investment allocation recommendations and financial wellness guidance to 401(k) participants in Alight-administered plans. The service charges an asset-based fee that appears on plan statements separately from fund expense ratios — but in a location many participants overlook.

Fee structures vary by employer plan contract. Advisory fees are typically in the range of 0.30–0.55% of plan assets per year, depending on the services enrolled and the plan size. Some plans enroll participants automatically in a managed allocation service as the default investment option; others require participants to opt in. In either case, participants who have been enrolled for years and are not actively using the advice service may be paying hundreds to thousands of dollars per year in advisory fees they could eliminate by rolling to a self-directed IRA.

To check whether you are enrolled in Alight Financial Solutions: log in to myalight.com, navigate to your 401(k) account, and look for a section labeled "Advisory Services," "Financial Guidance," "Managed Investments," or a fee disclosure table. If a separate advisory or planning service fee appears alongside your fund expense ratios, you are likely enrolled. You can typically opt out through the portal or by calling Alight participant services. Opting out before rolling — and managing your own fund allocation in the plan during the rollover processing window — stops the fee clock immediately.

Three real scenarios

Scenario 1: Long-tenured employee who searched "Hewitt 401k rollover" — rebrand navigation + stable value timing

David, 54, spent 22 years at a large manufacturing company and left to join a startup. He had enrolled in his employer's 401(k) in 2004 — when the plan was administered by Hewitt Associates. His plan balance was $690,000, with $480,000 in a diversified index fund lineup and $210,000 in the plan's stable value fund (credited at 4.2% annualized). He searched "Hewitt 401k rollover" and found a mix of outdated Aon Hewitt marketing pages and general articles — none specifically explaining that his account was now on Alight's platform.

David's former employer HR department told him to "contact Alight." He went to myalight.com, used the password reset function with his SSN and date of birth, and regained access to his account — which showed both the Aon Hewitt-era plan history and current Alight balance data. The portal confirmed Alight as the full-service recordkeeper, not merely an administrator layered on top of another custodian.

He called Alight participant services and learned his plan's stable value fund had a 90-day equity wash restriction. Because he was 54 — one year away from the Rule of 55 age-55 threshold — he faced a timing decision: initiate a full rollover to an IRA now (losing the Rule of 55 option on IRA assets), or wait until he turned 55 to preserve penalty-free access before rolling. A fee-only advisor helped him model both paths. He decided to roll the $480,000 equity portion to a Fidelity IRA immediately, preserving the Rule of 55 on the $210,000 stable value balance remaining in the Alight plan for his first year of startup work, during which his income would be unpredictable. On his 55th birthday, he transferred the stable value to an equity option inside the plan (starting the equity wash clock), then initiated the second rollover 90 days later.

Lesson: the Hewitt → Alight rebrand does not move your account to a new institution — but credential recovery can require direct outreach to Alight. At ages 53–58, always model the Rule of 55 before rolling, especially if your income or employment situation will change again within 5 years.

Scenario 2: Fortune 500 engineer discovers $1,600/yr Alight Financial Solutions fee

Linda, 41, left a major corporation after nine years. Her Alight-administered 401(k) held $390,000. She had enrolled at age 32 and never changed her investment elections. When she logged in to myalight.com to begin her rollover, she reviewed the fee section of her account — and found a "Financial Advisory Services" fee of $390/quarter ($1,560/year) at approximately 0.40% of her balance annually, charged by Alight Financial Solutions.

Linda had assumed the quarterly charge was a standard plan administrative fee — she had never connected with a financial advisor through the service, had never actively used any investment recommendations it provided, and had not realized it was an opt-in advisory product rather than a fixed plan cost. The fee had been paid every quarter for roughly nine years — totaling approximately $9,000 in cumulative advisory fees over the account's life, for a service she never used.

She initiated a direct rollover to a Fidelity rollover IRA, invested in FZROX (expense ratio 0.00%), and the Alight Financial Solutions fee stopped accruing the day her balance left the plan. Her ongoing investment cost fell from approximately $1,560/year to $0/year in fund management fees. At a 7% pre-fee return, the $1,560 annual savings compounding over her remaining 24 years until projected retirement at 65 represents a meaningful improvement in terminal portfolio value.

Lesson: before rolling any Alight plan, review the advisory services fee section in myalight.com. If you have been enrolled in Alight Financial Solutions and have not been using the service's guidance, the rollover eliminates this cost immediately on transfer.

Scenario 3: Pre-retiree at 60 with $1.5M Alight plan — employer stock NUA opportunity + IRMAA sequencing

Robert, 60, retired from a large energy company where he had spent 28 years. His Alight-administered 401(k) held $1.5M total: $1.15M in diversified index funds and $350,000 in employer stock that he had accumulated through company matching contributions over the years. The employer stock had a cost basis of $62,000 — a very low basis relative to its current value, creating a significant net unrealized appreciation (NUA) opportunity.

A fee-only advisor ran the NUA analysis: if Robert rolled the entire $1.5M to a traditional IRA, all future withdrawals including the employer stock would be taxed as ordinary income. But under the NUA strategy (see the NUA calculator), he could take the employer stock as an in-kind lump-sum distribution, pay ordinary income tax only on the $62,000 cost basis in the year of distribution, and then pay long-term capital gains rates (15% or 20%) on the NUA when he eventually sold the stock — saving potentially $60,000–$80,000 in taxes on the employer stock alone compared to a full rollover.

Robert's rollover plan: (1) distribute the employer stock to a taxable brokerage account as a lump-sum distribution (triggering the NUA election); (2) roll the remaining $1.15M in diversified assets directly to a traditional IRA at Fidelity; (3) begin Roth conversions from the traditional IRA to fill his bracket below the 2026 IRMAA first-tier threshold of $109,000 MAGI for a single filer.² Because he was 60, conversions in the 22% bracket (up to approximately $74,400 above the standard deduction for a single filer in 2026) could run for 13 years before his first required minimum distribution at 73, building a substantial tax-free Roth balance.

Alight processed the split distribution — lump-sum employer stock distribution to taxable brokerage + direct IRA rollover of remaining assets — within 16 business days. Robert's accountant handled the 1099-R reporting for both the cost-basis ordinary income and the NUA gain.

Lesson: if your Alight plan holds appreciated employer stock, run the NUA analysis before rolling. On a large, low-basis block of employer shares, the NUA strategy can save tens of thousands in taxes compared to a full rollover — but it requires a lump-sum distribution in a single tax year, which must be coordinated with your IRMAA exposure and Roth conversion sequencing.

When to get a specialist involved

A straightforward Alight rollover — no loan, no employer stock, no stable value restriction, no Backdoor Roth complication, no Rule of 55 consideration, no advisory fee enrollment — can typically be initiated online through myalight.com or with one call to Alight participant services. A fee-only specialist adds value quickly when any of these apply:

• Employer stock with a low cost basis (NUA strategy analysis — the NUA decision must be made before initiating any distribution, and the calculation requires your plan's cost basis records)
• Ages 55–59½ (Rule of 55 trade-off vs. rolling: permanent and irreversible once you roll)
• Alight Financial Solutions enrollment alongside a broader portfolio strategy review (the rollover destination and investment allocation decision is more complex than a single index fund selection)
• Stable value equity wash requiring a split rollover over 90 days (sequencing with Roth conversions and IRMAA requires planning)
• Large balance (above $500,000) where IRMAA sequencing, Roth conversion windows, and RMD planning each affect after-tax outcomes by tens of thousands of dollars
• Annual match true-up timing uncertainty (deciding whether to delay separation to capture a year-end true-up requires modeling the true-up value against alternative employment start date)
• Backdoor Roth strategy (pro-rata rule and potential reverse rollover to a new employer plan)
• Multiple Alight plans from different employers (some long-tenured employees have two or more Alight-administered plans from different employers — consolidation strategy requires attention to RMD aggregation and creditor protection trade-offs)

1. IRC § 3405(c), Mandatory Withholding on Eligible Rollover Distributions: IRS Publication 575 — Pension and Annuity Income — 20% mandatory federal income tax withholding applies to eligible rollover distributions paid directly to a participant rather than through a direct rollover to an IRA or eligible plan. A direct rollover is exempt from mandatory withholding. IRC § 402(c) permits a direct rollover to an IRA without triggering withholding. Verified June 2026.
2. 2026 IRMAA thresholds: Medicare.gov — Lower Costs — The 2026 IRMAA first tier begins at $109,000 MAGI for single filers and $218,000 for married filing jointly. The 2026 standard Part B premium is $202.90 per month; the first-tier IRMAA surcharge adds $81.20/month for a total of $284.10/month. Values verified June 2026 against CMS published IRMAA tables. Consistent with values verified on sibling pages of this site.
3. Net Unrealized Appreciation (NUA) rules: IRS — Net Unrealized Appreciation in Employer Securities — Under IRC § 402(e)(4), a participant receiving employer securities as part of a lump-sum distribution may exclude the NUA (the appreciation above the plan's cost basis) from ordinary income at distribution. The NUA is taxed as long-term capital gain when the securities are later sold. The cost basis is taxed as ordinary income in the year of distribution. The lump-sum distribution requirement means all plan assets from that employer's plan must be distributed in the same tax year. Verified June 2026.
4. SECURE 2.0 Act § 107, RMD Age Increase: IRS — Required Minimum Distributions FAQs — RMD starting age is 73 for individuals born 1951–1959, and 75 for individuals born 1960 or later. Verified June 2026.
5. IRC § 72(t)(2)(A)(v), Rule of 55 exception: IRS — Retirement Topics: Exceptions to Tax on Early Distributions — Distributions from a qualified employer plan to a participant who separates from service in or after the calendar year the participant reaches age 55 are exempt from the 10% early distribution penalty under IRC § 72(t)(2)(A)(v). The exception applies only to the qualified employer plan — assets rolled to an IRA lose this exception permanently. Verified June 2026.

Alight Solutions platform details, the Hewitt-to-Aon Hewitt-to-Alight rebrand history, portal navigation, advisory fee structure of Alight Financial Solutions, stable value fund equity wash mechanics, annual match true-up provisions, and distribution processes reflect publicly available information as of June 2026 and may vary by individual employer plan configuration, plan document terms, and contractual arrangements between your employer and Alight. Contact Alight participant services and review your Summary Plan Description directly to confirm your plan's distribution process, stable value fund terms, advisory services enrollment status, equity wash restriction details, and any annual match true-up requirements before initiating any rollover. IRC citations are consistent with 2026 law as verified on sibling pages of this site. The 2026 IRMAA threshold of $109,000 is verified from CMS.