Many retirement plan record keepers have failed to capture their fair share of the IRA rollover market—and this oversight creates a massive opportunity for advisors, according to recent research from McKinsey & Co.

McKinsey partner Céline Dufétel laid out the essentials of capturing IRA rollover assets at a breakout session at Pershing Insite 2012 on Thursday in Hollywood, Fla. Noting that IRAs are expected to generate as much as $500 billion in each of the next few years, Dufétel said these flows will represent 40% to 50% of net new money for retail brokerages and registered investment advisors between now and 2015.

"Most people leave behind a long trail of 401(k) or IRA accounts," Dufétel said of McKinsey's findings, which involved many interviews in people's homes to talk about their feelings about retirement. "It's funny how many people tell you, 'I just gave up trying to roll over my account because it was too complicated."