Plan sponsors continue to grapple with low engagement and limited financial literacy when it comes to retirement income within defined contribution plans, according to a new DCIIA study. Many employers are hesitant to implement retirement income solutions due to competing priorities, legal risks, and a lack of internal resources or formal decumulation strategies. 

Complexity, lack of standardization, and concerns over liquidity and portability further complicate adoption. However, plan sponsors anticipate growing interest in lifetime income options through 2025 and 2026, especially as peer adoption increases. 

Safe harbor provisions from SECURE 2.0 are expected to encourage adoption by reducing perceived legal liability, and DCIIA will expand its research later this year to better understand these barriers and opportunities.

Finsum: Solutions that offer personalization, flexibility, and simplicity are most appealing, though widespread uptake may hinge on stronger education and clearer evaluation tools.

Although it's common to think small-cap stocks suffer most during recessions, the data tells a more nuanced story. Analysis of developed markets shows that in 64% of years when GDP declined, small caps actually outperformed large caps—a rate even higher than their typical performance advantage. 

This finding challenges the belief that economic slowdowns always disadvantage smaller firms. One reason may be that financial markets are inherently forward-looking, often pricing in future recovery well before it's visible in economic data. 

As a result, the size premium—where small caps outperform—can still emerge during downturns. Ultimately, small-cap strength isn't strictly tied to GDP trends, underscoring the importance of long-term diversification over short-term predictions.

Finsum: This is much different than the interest rate driven volatility several years ago, this could be a great time to capitalize 

Raymond James is addressing a quieter challenge in the wealth management sector: helping independent advisors scale their teams amid growing client demands. This week, the firm introduced Talent Sourcing, a new in-house recruitment service that offers personalized hiring support, including candidate outreach and screening tailored to each advisory team's needs. 

The service aims to bridge the talent gap across roles ranging from junior advisors to specialized support staff, allowing advisors to focus on growth without sacrificing service quality. It arrives as competition for top advisory talent intensifies, especially following LPL's $2.7 billion acquisition of Commonwealth Financial. 

By providing a vetted shortlist of candidates, Talent Sourcing complements Raymond James’s broader suite of advisor tools, including its Paraplanning Services launched last year. 

Finsum: Ultimately, this initiative not only strengthens internal practices but also positions the firm to meet evolving client expectations for more comprehensive, value-added financial services.

Dodge & Cox Emerging Markets Stock earned a Medalist Rating upgrade to Silver from Morningstar, thanks to increased confidence in its disciplined mix of qualitative judgment and quantitative screening, particularly valuable in navigating under-researched segments of emerging markets. 

This hybrid approach, while unusual for the firm, uses a valuation-weighted model to flag potential opportunities, especially among smaller-cap names, before handing decisions over to the fundamental research team. Since its 2021 inception, the fund has delivered solid performance, outperforming a majority of its peers and its benchmark. Its portfolio, broader than other Dodge & Cox offerings, includes over 200 holdings with considerable overlap in top names with the firm's international strategy. 

The JPMorgan US Research Enhanced Equity fund also saw a Morningstar upgrade, thanks to a highly stable and experienced 19-person analyst team that has consistently driven strong stock selection within a benchmark-aware framework.

Finsum: Now, could be a good opportunity to capitalize on certain EM as trade disrupts markets. 

Structured notes can offer attractive returns, but they come with notable risks that investors should carefully consider. One of the primary concerns is liquidity risk, as these products often lack a secondary market, making it difficult to sell before maturity without potentially accepting a steep discount. 

Market risk is also a factor, since structured notes are tied to the performance of underlying assets that may be volatile, especially when linked to speculative markets. Even if a note includes downside protection, extreme fluctuations can still lead to losses. 

Default risk is another major issue, as the investor’s return ultimately depends on the solvency of the issuing institution. In the event of a bankruptcy—such as Lehman Brothers’ collapse—investors may lose their entire principal regardless of market performance.

Finsum: However, when structured thoughtfully, these notes can offer enhanced yields, downside buffers, or tailored exposure to specific markets not easily accessed through traditional investments.

In March, U.S. equity markets retreated sharply, driven by renewed tariff tensions and mounting economic uncertainty, marking their steepest monthly losses since 2022. International stocks, however, maintained their relative strength and continued to outperform the S&P 500 on a year-to-date basis. 

This environment reinforces the importance of active management in fixed income model portfolios, where careful duration and credit positioning can help mitigate downside risks while still capturing income opportunities. 

Dividend-focused equities stood out as a resilient segment, benefiting from their tilt toward defensive sectors amid market volatility. Fixed income returns were subdued overall, with longer-duration bonds and lower-quality credit coming under pressure from rising stagflation concerns. Income portfolios remain positioned defensively, emphasizing quality income sources across asset classes to navigate a more uncertain economic landscape.

Finsum: Investors are favoring income-generating assets with stable cash flows as risk sentiment declined.

Apex Fintech Solutions has introduced a new Direct Indexing platform designed to help advisors and fintechs create tailored, tax-smart portfolios for their clients. The solution enables investors to directly hold the individual stocks within an index, allowing for fine-tuned adjustments based on personal goals or values like ESG preferences. 

With a minimum investment of $10,000, it opens access to advanced portfolio customization for a broader range of users. The platform offers built-in benchmarks for large, mid, and small-cap equities, and incorporates automated tax-loss harvesting to improve efficiency and returns. 

Seamlessly integrated into Apex’s Augmented Advice™ suite, it simplifies portfolio management while supporting deep personalization. Future upgrades will further enhance customization, including user-defined indices and more precise portfolio adjustments.

Finsum: ESG is a great spot for custom indexing because it is ripe for picking companies that align with investor value. 

Annuities offer retirees a steady income stream, with fixed annuities providing guaranteed interest rates during the accumulation phase and predictable payouts in retirement. 

April 2025’s top fixed annuities include: Gainbridge’s SteadyPace at 5.80% over five years, Reliance Standard’s 5.00% option, and higher-premium offerings like MassMutual’s Premier Voyage 5, which reaches up to 4.90% for $1M+ investments. 

Rates generally vary by premium size and contract length, with most products requiring $10,000–$100,000 minimums and terms of three to five years. Fixed annuities also offer tax-deferred growth and can be customized with features like survivor or death benefits. However, higher returns often require larger upfront investments, and early withdrawals can trigger penalties. 

Despite their complexity, fixed annuities remain a useful tool for generating reliable retirement income, particularly for those seeking stability, tax deferral, and no contribution limits.

The Trump administration has proposed major federal budget cuts for 2026, aiming to slash over $160 billion, including deep reductions to climate and clean energy programs. The plan targets more than $15 billion in previously approved funding for carbon capture and renewable energy, along with $6 billion earmarked for electric vehicle charging stations. 

According to the White House, these programs failed to deliver results and should instead rely on private sector leadership guided by market demand. The proposal would shift focus toward boosting domestic production of fossil fuels, nuclear energy, and critical minerals. 

Additional cuts would hit the EPA, USDA, and NOAA, reducing support for environmental research, farm conservation, and food aid abroad. Critics argue the plan undermines public health and rural development, while its passage in Congress remains uncertain.

Finsum: Obviously ESG is going to take an initial hit with the administration, but it has always remained a very long term investment, and could be a good time to buy low.