BlackRock survey finds 92% of high-growth plan advisors use AI

Ninety-two percent of high-growth retirement plan advisory practices use AI regularly, against 78% across the rest of the market, according to BlackRock's 2026 Read on Retirement Plan Advisor Survey.

The survey, released Tuesday, drew on more than 300 plan advisors and sorts them using a new benchmark BlackRock calls the DC Practice Index. It scores each practice on four measures: growth in DC assets under management, growth in DC revenue, growth in average plan count and client retention. The AI use it tracks is operational — client communications, data analysis and proposal generation — and 70% of the high-growth group calls AI a major operational priority.

The four index measures give advisors a way to see which group they are in before borrowing the high-growth playbook. Fifty-four percent of the most successful practices sort clients by future growth potential rather than current plan assets. Existing clients account for a 36% greater share of overall growth at those practices. The survey says workplace savings may cover only 50% to 60% of what most participants will need in retirement, so ranking households by 401(k) balance alone can undercount clients with assets outside the plan.

High-growth practices have also moved toward retirement income solutions and broader wealth relationships, BlackRock says, with AI absorbing the operational load so principals can spend time on higher-value financial work. As Private Wealth Daily previously reported, high-growth DC practices grew plan assets 121% from 2023 to 2025 and kept 90% of clients on average, against 86% for the broader market.

The DC Practice Index sorts practices by realized growth — DC assets, DC revenue, plan count and retention — so the 92% AI figure describes what high-growth practices already do, not a tested cause of that growth.