401(k) Real Talk Episode 190: April 29, 2026

Welcome to this week’s edition of 401(k) Real Talk, where Fred Barstein, contributing editor for Wealth Management’s RPA channel, reviews all of last week’s industry news and selects the five most important/interesting stories.

Worth reading:

Read the full raw transcript below:

Greetings & a warm welcome to this week’s edition of 401k Real Talk. This is Fred Barstein contributing editor at WealthManagement’s RPA omnichannel and CEO at TRAU, TPSU & 401kTV – I review all of this week’s stories and select the most important and interesting ones providing open honest and candid discussion you will not get anyway else. So let’s get real!

FIRST STORY

The $13.8 bn Chicago teachers’ pension fund decided to restart their RFP process won by Verus after the committee voiced concerns about the PE backed group firm it was acquired by.

Verus was hired in March and the sale to Cerity Partners slightly less than 50% owned by 3 PE firms closed in April. Other advisory firms that have purchased institutional consultants include Hightower and Mariner.

Nat Moody, an independent RPA wrote that retail clients, mostly unaware of their advisor’s structure, should also be concerned about PE ownership which could affect pricing, service and products increasing the possibility for conflicts of interest and decreasing transparency.

As discussion about whether PE should be included in retail DC investment menus heats up with new DOL rules pending, will PE backed firms be more likely to recommend this asset class?

At the Napa summit, 3 plan sponsors who recently conducted an advisor RFP, were asked why they started the process and what drove their final decision.

One plan was happy with their advisor and retained them but thought they needed to go through the process and learned about new investment options. Another plan acquired by a PE firm, did make a change relying on their new owner for advisor recommendations.

The main theme is that retail plans need a specialist to guide them as most administrators juggle many jobs. To that point, trust, education and real communication in language they can understand are most valued along with committee fiduciary training, working with employees and managing vendor relationships.

The selection of an advisor is the most important decision a plan will make yet they spend the least amount of time on it.

NMG Consulting’s Josh Dietch outlines how advisors are using AI to grow both their top and bottom lines with data from their 2025 advisor study.

Dietch observes that AI is evolving from a productivity enhancer to an enabler of strategic growth especially for the convergence of wealth and retirement at the workplace.

AI is enabling employees to shift to higher value services like client relationships while helping with client notetaking and communications, next best action recommendations, investment monitoring, benchmarking and proposal generation.

Advisors that use AI can be proactive rather than reactive which most clients value.

While the redemption run on private credit may be dominating the news, many experts do not believe there is a fundamental problem. Though redemptions are at record highs, Preqin, an independent research firm warned that investors’ fears are not justified.

So while the market for ’40 act BDCs or business development companies which offer private credit may not be bullish, neither is it bearish. Perhaps DC plans which tend to move slower, taking a longer view than individual investors may be a good home for private investments.

FINALLY

Until relatively recently, the defined contribution industry had been a niche market that most wealth advisors and asset managers had ignored. There were, and still are, many barriers to entry including low fees, high liability, limiting tech, and complicated rules and distribution systems.

Read my recent WealthManagement.com/RPA column about how those barriers that had kept 401(k) and 403(b) plans isolated, protected from more sophisticated providers and advisors, are being overcome as the opportunities are now too great to ignore with wealth and retirement converging at the workplace.

FINISH

So those were the most important stories from the past week. I listed a few others I thought were worth reading covering:

Nate Moody warns plan sponsors about the dangers of PE-backed RPA firms
What is driving change for TPA firms?
Pew Research indicates that government mandates are helping the private sector
Experts detail the risks of AI for plan sponsors
Please let me know if I missed anything or if you would like to comment. Otherwise I look forward to speaking to you next week on 401k Re