The Retirement Advisers Desk 4 stories this week · 57 total

The outgoing president's list of what is changing runs past the tools her association sells, and the coverage gap sits outside the adviser's reach entirely.

The newly created chief retirement officer role spans two businesses whose real prize is the rollover moment; Edelman filled it from the recordkeeper side of the market.

Three studies trace a gap built from unbilled hours, unquantified planning value and thin staffing at the moment clients say they are ready to move assets.

The fiduciary layer keeps consolidating while the platform layer keeps the capital, and the final LNRS is the most legible move either side has made.

U.S. Bank's 2026 survey puts Gen Z's wealth-building start at 19 and ranks retirement over ownership, which resets the adviser's opening conversation.

Three senior appointments in a single roundup, two of them built around applied AI, show providers buying capability they have not grown.

Two plans of the same size can sit two and a half times apart on administration, and that gap is what gets an advisor into the room.

Edelman Financial Engines' first confidence report finds most pre-retirees want to run their own retirement decisions even though 60% cannot say what they own, pushing plan advice from education toward diagnosis.

T. Rowe Price's sixth annual consultant survey finds the AI debate settled and the private-assets fight moving inside the multi-asset vehicle that already holds plan defaults.

Across 36 firms advising $10.3 trillion of DC assets, AI has taken over workflows and meeting prep while plan design sits almost untouched.

T. Rowe Price's consultant study shows near-total AI adoption in the paperwork and a governance gap separating the firms pulling ahead.

More than 200 institutional relationships put an asset gatherer inside the fiduciary room, and the ownership question now travels with every consultant search.

With Cerulli putting roughly 35% of advisers into retirement inside a decade, three plan-advisory executives graded recruiting from a D-plus to a B-minus—and the pipeline central staffing solves better than individual practices can.

The retirement plan RIA is targeting nonprofits with $5 million to $250 million in assets for fiduciary management services.

Mike Ziccardi of CBIZ wants advisors to sell the PEP's named fiduciary and independent oversight before they ever mention price.

The $4.33 billion platform deal is a capability purchase, pricing managed-account technology and sponsor relationships over asset count.

Early-career leaders see sponsors opening the door to advice — and they are skeptical that managed accounts have earned their fees.

The 2025 Emerging Leaders cohort tells next year's class that client exposure and networking beat waiting to feel ready.

The Fort Worth company's combination with a Kansas City 401(k) specialist keeps the team and platform intact — a sign retirement M&A is pricing capabilities over accounts.

New MDRT research hands plan advisers a playbook: automate the routine, escalate the high-stakes and volatile moments to a human.

New MissionSquare data points advisers toward confidence-building, not more information, for public sector participants.

Morningstar's PitchBook integration with Google's Gemini puts attributable data in front of plan fiduciaries.

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.

The Qualified Pooled Plan Professional designation arrives as pooled employer plan assets double to $34 billion in a year.

The new QP3 designation argues that pooled-plan administration is its own discipline, not an extension of single-employer work.

401(k) Specialist argues designation proliferation has become a supply-side business more than a measure of fiduciary judgment.

The new workflow lets advisers recommend without executing, a bet on the larger pool of relationships that stop short of discretion.

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.

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.

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.

Advisers can reach the 62% of childless participants with no written financial plan by asking one question.

A second workflow lets advisers recommend changes inside employer-sponsored accounts; clients do the executing.

Addition Wealth survey gives advisers a concrete number to cite when clients ask why a human stays in the loop.

Allianz Life finds 62% of child-free adults have no written financial plan, a clear opening for advisers.

A 401(k) Specialist scan finds a slim retirement cohort — and a growth metric that rewards small starting lines.

Custom Model Portfolios reach advisers through Vestmark, SS&C Black Diamond, and Orion; plan governance will decide their reach.