Features: archive
Every Features story in Retirement, newest first. 54 stories
2 stories
- The Wrap
Plan sponsors rank 401(k) education a top concern as workers lose track of old plans
Morgan Stanley's poll of 200 sponsors found 45% rank education among their top three concerns; Empower's survey of 2,005 adults found one in three may have lost track of an old 401(k).
- The Wrap
Capital Group adds retirement income to target-date funds; HSA invested balances top $100 billion
Capital Group's framework models fixed 4% to 4.5% and variable 5% to 5.5% withdrawal ranges, and a Morgan Stanley poll finds 45% of sponsors rank 401(k) education among top three concerns.
1 story
- The Wrap
Investment-holding HSA accounts hold 59% of assets, Devenir finds
They make up 11% of HSAs and average $23,837, according to Devenir.
1 story
- Investments
Ascensus launches referral platform routing 401(k) savers to plan advisers
The recordkeeper, which administers more than $1.3 trillion for more than 16 million savers, expects 18 to 20 partner firms live on the platform within a year.
1 story
- The Wrap
Trump signs ESOP valuation bill granting fiduciaries good-faith appraisal defense
The House passed the Senate text 401-14 in September 2026; the defense covers fiduciaries who rely in good faith on an independent appraisal under IRS Revenue Ruling 59-60.
1 story
- The Wrap
Treasury opens more than 60 million Trump Accounts; parents still must claim them
Baird's Tim Steffen told InvestmentNews the identity-verification claim is required before money can be added or the investment changed.
2 stories
- The Wrap
Auto-enrollment or auto-escalation plans average $170,000 in balances, Bank of America says
Vestwell's own 401(k) and 403(b) account holders averaged a 6.4% deferral in 2023, while 62% of surveyed employees say they should save 10% or more.
- The Wrap
Cerulli survey finds 46% prefer flexible retirement withdrawals, 39% want guaranteed income
Guardian found only 34% of respondents had planned for income past age 80, while neither retirement income preference reached a majority.
1 story
- The Wrap
Finhabits estimates 13.6 million Latino adults may qualify for Saver's Match
The report's illustrative scenarios put the eligible group's 30-year retirement balances at $615 billion to $1.02 trillion.
2 stories
- Investments
Legacy provision nearly doubled near-retirees' interest in an annuity in a $500,000 scenario: DCIIA study for Allspring
The same study found 70% of near-retirees say they trust their employer on plan design, and 56% expect to move workplace savings at retirement.
- The Wrap
Proposed EBSA rule gives plan fiduciaries 20 process examples
Cerulli finds 39% of DC participants want guaranteed monthly payments, but income options need advice to drive adoption.
2 stories
- The Wrap
Cerulli and Morningstar: 10.2% of advisers' wealth clients come from DC plans
Nearly 40% of surveyed advisers say they lack time to prospect inside their plans, and the research cites $250,000 account minimums as a barrier.
- The Wrap
October Three: Plan terminations were 66% of first-half U.S. pension risk transfer deals
MetLife's 2026 poll found a record 95% of defined-benefit plan sponsors have de-risking goals.
2 stories
- The Wrap
Athene poll: 85% of workers aged 40-61 rate guaranteed monthly income appealing; 23% own annuities
A Harris Poll for Athene also found 34% of respondents mostly or fully understood annuities and 54% knew very little or only somewhat understood them.
- The Wrap
Alto agrees to acquire Forge Trust, adding more than 60,000 private-market IRA accounts
Alto says the combined businesses would hold more than $20 billion in assets under custody and administration; financial terms were not disclosed.
2 stories
- The Wrap
ERIC and NAGDCA ask IRS to route Saver's Match through plan rollover systems
J.P. Morgan separately broadened access to SmartRetirement Lifetime Income on Retirement Link through an expanded connection with Empower.
- Investments
Transamerica pooled plans reach $34.2 billion, shifting the focus to retirement income
The recordkeeper's pooled assets are up more than 60% in five years, and its research finds 48% of employers without a plan would consider joining one.
1 story
- The Wrap
Halbert Hargrove's four-annuity plan exposes annuity fee gap
A 2025 LIMRA study finds fee-based products account for about 1% of annuity premiums, even as insurers call the RIA channel their likeliest growth market.
4 stories
- The Wrap
Vanguard's proxy-voting choice reaches 500,000 participants as small plans lag on auto-enrollment
The firm says the program spans nearly 80 plan sponsors holding $120 billion, while its plan data put small-plan auto-enrollment at 26% against 61% at large plans.
- The Wrap
Cetera re-flags Avantax team to Cetera Planning Partners
The Retirement Planning Group moved from Avantax Planning Partners to Cetera Planning Partners on Oct. 5 as Cetera also added an outside team; among the day's external recruits, only Fitzgerald Financial Group disclosed AUM, $185 million.
- The Wrap
Five breakaway teams land on independent platforms; Fitzgerald Financial discloses $185 million
The Cullman/Holt, Lakewood and Fitzgerald moves left UBS, Cambridge and Commonwealth, but four of five teams arrived with no asset figure.
- The Wrap
FiNet, Cetera, LPL, Kestra and Carson add five multi-adviser teams on Oct. 5
All five teams landed on independent platforms; four of the five moves name a source firm, and only Fitzgerald Financial Group, at $185 million, arrived with a disclosed asset total.
2 stories
- The Wrap
T. Rowe Price flags private credit in annuities as retirees hesitate to spend
Fitch puts the trailing default rate on U.S. private credit borrowers at a record 6.3%, while Prudential finds 86% of retirees hold back on spending their savings.
- The Wrap
Nuveen closes $13 billion Schroders deal; private-markets book leads the integration
The TIAA-owned manager will keep Schroders separate for 12 to 18 months before reorganizing a $400 billion private-markets book by asset class.
2 stories
- The Wrap
Treasury draft rules would auto-open 63.36 million child accounts
A Goldman survey finds 14% of workers cut retirement savings, while ERIC asks Treasury to make BNY the clearinghouse for employer contributions.
- The Wrap
Ascensus announces advisor referral platform; Edward Jones plans 2027 AI plan tool
Ascensus cited Cerulli research that 63% of active 401(k) participants operate without access to a financial advisor; Edward Jones says its tool will span prospecting, recordkeeper analysis and plan servicing.
1 story
- The Wrap
Treasury draft proposes auto-opening 63.36 million child Trump Accounts by Social Security number
The rules would replace a March proposal and let the Secretary enroll children without parental election, but they do not name the data source that would identify eligible children.
2 stories
- Investments
Fidelity's real estate debt fund files $451 million; Värde and Barings leave size blank
Invesco's summer poll put defined contribution participants at 3.4 out of 5 on naming private assets, leaving the education job to target-date funds.
- Investments
Fidelity files $451 million real estate debt fund; Northern Trust files $33 billion vehicle
The platform-scale filers arrived with numbers, while Värde and Barings filed credit vehicles with names and no stated size in the same 48 hours.
2 stories
- The Wrap
Tavarez, Barnett & Steen leave UBS for Frost Investment Services
The three-advisor liftout landed at a bank-owned brokerage in a week when Modern Wealth added 10 advisors and LPL pulled the Fowler team from Raymond James.
- The Wrap
ERIC asks Treasury to make BNY the clearinghouse for employer Trump Account contributions
Employers cannot fund accounts they cannot verify, and the request would settle whether BNY becomes the single payroll connection for doing both.
2 stories
- The Wrap
The corner office is now a distribution job
AllianceBernstein's succession, MFS's shelf argument and Vestwell's CIT hire point the same way: the target-date product is settled, and the fight is now over who controls the default.
- The Wrap
Captrust and LPL are buying whole practices now
Two seven-advisor teams landed at Captrust the same day, LPL pulled four advisors off Northwestern Mutual, and a $385 million book left Wells—moves that read better as practice acquisitions than recruiting.
1 story
- The Wrap
Edelman hires recordkeeper product chief to own the rollover
Edelman's new retirement chief shows the 401(k) advice fight has moved from legal permissibility to distribution control.
1 story
- The Wrap
The 401(k) private-asset push lost its benchmark
CFA Institute's model shows three of five private asset classes trail a plain stock-and-bond baseline, so sponsors can only justify them inside the target-date sleeve.
1 story
- The Wrap
The $51.2 trillion record is a price; the exit is the product
A 15% equity quarter restored $3.8 trillion to household retirement balances, and with money still leaving DC plans, the industry's real product is the rollover that follows.
1 story
- The Wrap
The 401(k) advice fight has moved to the login
Pontera's legal case and Fidelity's December cutoff point to the same conclusion: whoever controls the login sets the price of participant advice.
2 stories
- The Wrap
The default, not the annuity shelf, now decides retirement income
BlackRock is selling the glide path, Vanguard found the RMD already won the decumulation default, and carriers are buying shelf access to a channel the default bypasses.
- The Wrap
AI won the paperwork. The fiduciary call is still human.
DC consultants have automated meeting prep and workflows nearly to saturation; the firms pulling ahead are proving human oversight of plan design, which AI has barely touched.
1 story
- The Wrap
Creative Planning Now Owns the Consultant Search
More than 200 RVK relationships put the fiduciary gatekeeper inside an asset gatherer, and the ownership question now follows every consultant search.