Displaying items by tag: retirement

President Trump’s sweeping “Big Beautiful Bill” has stirred surprisingly little excitement within the retirement industry, largely because it leaves the defined contribution landscape mostly untouched. While the law does expand health savings accounts and introduces a limited Social Security tax break for lower-income seniors, it sidesteps deeper retirement reforms that many industry advocates had hoped for. 

Notably, a bipartisan proposal to unlock more than $100 billion in surplus pension and retiree health assets for worker benefits was excluded, frustrating supporters who saw it as a pro-employee measure. On the positive side, the bill preserves current retirement tax incentives, avoiding feared rollbacks that would have impacted savings strategies. 

Outside the retirement space, the bill’s increase to the national debt ceiling could hasten Social Security insolvency by a year, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. 

Finsum: Investors should also consider how the  "Trump Accounts" for children could impact clients’ children

The SEC’s Office of the Investor Advocate announced it will examine the increasing use of private equity and other alternatives in retirement accounts as part of its fiscal 2026 objectives. The office has warned that adding private market products to 401(k)s and 403(b)s can pose risks for retail savers, especially in target-date funds and managed accounts. 

Concerns include limited liquidity, incomplete disclosures, and a higher risk of fraud or losses, which the agency will evaluate in relation to fiduciary duties under ERISA. This move follows Senator Elizabeth Warren’s letter to Empower Retirement questioning its plans to offer private equity in its 401(k) products. 

Beyond private equity, the investor advocate’s 2026 agenda will also prioritize improving retail investor disclosures, analyzing China-based VIE structures, collaborating with the SEC’s crypto task force, and using investor research to support rulemaking. 

Finsum: Advisors should aim to ensure retirement plan participants understand the trade-offs of these complex and often opaque investments.

In today’s unpredictable economic landscape, retirees face mounting challenges in preserving their wealth as traditional strategies like the 60/40 portfolio falter under inflation and synchronized market downturns. The financial turmoil of recent years has exposed the shortcomings of conventional diversification, especially during crises like 2022 when both stocks and bonds fell sharply, undermining retirees’ income and security. 

As a result, many advisors now advocate incorporating alternative investments—such as private equity, real estate, and private credit—into retirement portfolios to broaden exposure and potentially enhance returns. Alternatives offer benefits like access to private markets, higher return potential through illiquidity premiums, and diversification through non-correlated strategies. 

Additionally, alternative strategies like managed futures and long/short funds can provide “crisis alpha,” cushioning portfolios during volatile markets. 

Finsum: While these vehicles carry higher fees, tax complexity, and liquidity constraints, their strategic use can help retirees mitigate risk, sustain income, and better navigate an uncertain financial future.

Collective Investment Trusts (CITs) are gaining popularity among retirement plan sponsors due to their low costs, flexibility, and operational efficiency. Unlike mutual funds, CITs are pooled investment vehicles maintained by banks or trust companies and are available only to qualified retirement plans such as defined contribution and defined benefit plans.  

They often have lower fees than mutual funds and may not require high minimum investments, making them more accessible to smaller plans. Though not registered with the SEC, CITs are regulated by banking authorities and must meet strict fiduciary standards under ERISA. 

Many CITs now feature daily pricing and increased transparency, including ticker symbols and third-party reporting through platforms like Morningstar. AllianceBernstein, for example, partners with Great Gray Trust Company to offer a range of CITs with streamlined onboarding and no investment minimums, reflecting the vehicle’s growing role in retirement plan investment menus.

CITs can be a great way to augment your client's wealth management, and add an additional component to their portfolio. 

Monte Carlo simulations have become an essential tool for retirement planning, allowing users to model thousands of financial outcomes based on variables like investment returns, inflation, and life expectancy. Using AI assistant Claude, the author generated a detailed simulation for a hypothetical couple—Joe and Jane Average—without needing programming skills or statistical expertise. 

Claude translated the couple’s retirement goals and financial data into a 5,000-iteration simulation using historical return data and a 60/40 stock-bond allocation, delivering a 95.78% success rate for retirement sustainability. 

The simulation projected a median portfolio of $28.2 million by Jane’s life expectancy, with very low depletion risk even in advanced age. Key strengths of the plan included strong pre-retirement savings, realistic spending goals, a balanced asset mix, and delayed Social Security filing. 

Finsum: Monte Carlo simulation can give you the edge to navigate and model various situations to deliver the best results to your clients.