GAO asks DOL to define retirement data privacy rules
A 31-provider audit finds marketing permissions and unspecified data-selling rules in plan privacy disclosures, and the GAO wants the Labor Department to set limits.
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Debt sends retirement M&A into the contribution layer
With managed accounts posting a measurable contribution lift and debt outranking saving, buyers are moving past recordkeepers to the feature that answers the squeeze.
Middle-class savings are being outrun by debt, report finds
The median middle-class household has $64,000 in retirement accounts, and debt repayment outranks retirement saving as a financial priority.
Managed accounts substitute for auto-escalation
New Morningstar research shows managed-account users contribute up to 2.3 points more, with the biggest gaps in voluntary-enrollment plans.
Debt has become the retirement crisis driver
A new NIRS survey finds 80% see a retirement crisis, with debt and affordability at the center and AI advice still facing a trust gap.
Rival Companies to buy Smart USA's managed-account arm
The managed-account provider splits from its global parent, leaving Stadion under a CEO-controlled holding company.
Plan advisers get an AI research tool with a source trail
Morningstar's PitchBook integration with Google's Gemini puts attributable data in front of plan fiduciaries.
PGIM arms DC reps with Nestimate's target-date scoring tool
The analyzer scores target-date funds against a plan's workforce, putting demographic fit in front of plan committees as the next menu mandate takes shape.
DOL watchdog embeds with DOJ fraud center
The Labor Department's inspector general signed on to the National Fraud Detection Center, putting investigators alongside federal prosecutors in a shift from reactive referrals to embedded detection.
ASPPA creates a credential for the pooled-plan market
The Qualified Pooled Plan Professional designation arrives as pooled employer plan assets double to $34 billion in a year.
ASPPA puts a credential behind pooled-plan work
The new QP3 designation argues that pooled-plan administration is its own discipline, not an extension of single-employer work.
Record HSA participation masks a retirement-plan gap
A record 83% of eligible employees now contribute, but only 22% invest their HSA balances.
Managed accounts' payoff is a plan design story
Morningstar's new research finds the biggest contribution gaps in voluntary enrollment plans, suggesting managed accounts work best where plan design leaves the work to participants.
401(k) plans keep dropping active domestic equity funds
A review of 11-K filings shows active domestic equity funds accounted for a large share of 2025 lineup changes, with consultants blaming the category's persistent struggles in a fee-first market.
IRS proposal moves the deduction line on retroactive benefit increases
Proposed single-employer funding rules reach back into the closed plan year and settle where plan expenses sit in target normal cost.
Succession Planning Is the New Executive Benefits Battlefield
NFP's survey shows most employers haven't designed executive benefits around leadership transitions, handing advisers an opening that starts with key-person risk rather than a product.
ParticipantOS turns the plan's payroll feed into engagement
Freedom Fiduciaries' new system reacts to hires and contribution changes as they happen, giving advisors a personal touch at scale without the campaign calendar.
Credential glut sells activity, not fiduciary judgment
401(k) Specialist argues designation proliferation has become a supply-side business more than a measure of fiduciary judgment.
The 60/40's bond cushion is broken. Target-date funds are next.
Plan sponsors should stress-test late-career glidepaths against 2022, when bonds fell with equities and the classic portfolio lost 16.64%.
Pontera adds advice-only path to workplace accounts
The new workflow lets advisers recommend without executing, a bet on the larger pool of relationships that stop short of discretion.
Retirement managed accounts shift to adviser-controlled rails
Vanguard opens custom models to outside platforms, Pontera reaches held-away 401(k)s without custody, and SEI clears the back office with AI. The adviser's desktop is becoming the point of assembly for retirement capital.
CFP Board's rollover guide gives advisers a path and plaintiffs a target
The board's seven-step checklist turns duty of care into a compliance path for rollover advisers and a written standard for the next lawsuit.
Debt report prices Social Security rescue at $2.7 trillion
The Conference Board's scenarios make the benefit cut the default planning assumption; the transfer is the tail case.
T. Rowe's $19 billion bond bet moves target-date fight into the sleeves
The F/m deal buys the fixed-income engine CITs demand. PGIM's private-markets hire shows the next front is inside the fund.
T. Rowe Price buys F/m to strengthen target-date fixed income
The $19 billion deal adds ETF and managed-account capabilities to its retirement business.
Planning cuts retirement stress by 40 points
New Cerulli data show retirees with a financial plan feel far less stress than those without, a gap advisers can use to start the retirement conversation.
Stash adds 401(k) rollovers to its app; Voya lands D.C. recordkeeping
Stash lets customers roll old 401(k)s into IRAs without leaving the app; Voya wins recordkeeping for D.C.'s public retirement plans.
401(k) balances rebound at Principal as Roth adoption climbs
Principal's recordkeeping data shows balances recovering and Roth taking hold. The behavior behind the rebound argues for automatic features.
Human oversight tops what adults want from financial AI
Addition Wealth's 2026 survey finds 72% of U.S. adults want a human leading or actively involved in financial guidance. For retirement plan advisers, that is the opening.
Smallest employers are adopting retirement plans fastest, Gusto data show
Gusto's payroll data show the smallest firms adding plans fastest. Auto-IRA mandates and hourly-worker access are reshaping the small-plan market.
Parenthood pushes Americans to plan for retirement
Advisers can reach the 62% of childless participants with no written financial plan by asking one question.
SpaceX's record listing shows up in institutional portfolios
Pensions & Investments reports official filings show the largest IPO in history landed in institutional equity portfolios.
Pontera adds a non-discretionary route into held-away 401(k)s
A second workflow lets advisers recommend changes inside employer-sponsored accounts; clients do the executing.
11th Circuit revives Royal Caribbean TDF suit, eases benchmark test
The ruling lets ERISA plaintiffs plead imprudence without a matched benchmark, setting up a Supreme Court test of how specific the comparison must be.
HSA balances hit a record. Most accountholders still hold cash.
EBRI finds average HSA balances at an all-time high, but just 18% of accountholders invest beyond cash.
Annuity records mask the advice gap
MassMutual Ascend crossed $2 billion in advisory sales. LIMRA data shows advisors are still not converting demand into income plans.
Only 21% use AI as primary financial source
Addition Wealth survey gives advisers a concrete number to cite when clients ask why a human stays in the loop.
Child-free adults less confident than parents on retirement savings, Allianz Life finds
Allianz Life finds 62% of child-free adults have no written financial plan, a clear opening for advisers.
Mandatory contributions count against the Section 415 annual additions cap
Groom Law guidance puts mandatory employee contributions inside the Section 415 annual additions count.
Average HSA balance hits record $5,532, and most is still cash
Only 18% of accountholders invest outside cash, so the triple tax advantage goes mostly untouched.
Target-date assets top $5.3 trillion as income options climb
Sway Research's mid-year report shows 11% first-half growth, with income-linked target-dates up 18%.
PSCA names three CPSPs as 2026 award winners
The honorees used their credential training to make concrete plan changes, from employer matches to a 3% participation gain.
Ten retirement firms landed in the Inc. 5000 top 1,000
A 401(k) Specialist scan finds a slim retirement cohort — and a growth metric that rewards small starting lines.
MassMutual Ascend passes $2 billion in advisory annuity sales
Close to half of the carrier's lifetime advisory annuity sales arrived in the past two years.
Abuse-of-discretion review extends to plan investment suits
A deferential standard long applied to benefit denials now covers claims against 401(k) and ESOP fiduciaries, easing dismissals and making settlements less likely.
Treasury opens Saver's Match rulemaking, sets TrumpIRA.gov course
The federal match for low-income savers moves toward regulation as Treasury prepares its directory of eligible IRAs.
Vanguard lets advisers customize its model portfolios
Custom Model Portfolios reach advisers through Vestmark, SS&C Black Diamond, and Orion; plan governance will decide their reach.
Protected-income demand is outrunning advisor delivery
A new LIMRA survey finds broad demand for guaranteed retirement income, but pre-retirees' confidence that protected income will cover essentials remains thin — the gap is the next test for advice firms.
Annuity sales hit record $123.9B as Fed hawks reshape fixed income
A divided Fed and Strait of Hormuz talks framed the industry's 11th straight quarter above $100 billion.
PGIM taps retirement veteran Yaqub Ahmed for DC Solutions
A 30-year retirement-industry veteran now leads PGIM's defined contribution strategy as the firm eyes private markets access.