Retirement Income Planning Technology Gains New Urgency

Advisors not yet using dedicated distribution-phase retirement income planning technology now have more reason to consider it.

Among the findings of the 2026 Cerulli report on U.S. Defined Contribution Distribution are that nearly 40% of respondents say they want a personalized, detailed, and actionable plan to follow in retirement.

The data backing that statistic is from the 15th iteration of Cerulli’s 401(k) Plan Participant Survey, which had 1,740 retirement investors, including both active 401(k) participants and retirees. Within the survey population were 1,254 active working current 401(k) account owners and 486 retirees.

In other words, improving the retirement income ecosystem for defined contribution (DC) plan participants is going to require more than investment product development alone, which much of the industry has looked to as the solution for many years.

According to the report the industry still needs to combine investment solutions with participant advice and planning, education for plan sponsors and intermediaries, and recordkeeper infrastructure.

“Most pre-retirees are uncomfortable making key retirement income decisions without an advisor’s help,” said Chris Bailey, director of the Retirement practice at Cerulli, in a prepared statement. “As much as they want guaranteed income in retirement, pre-retirees also want a personalized, detailed plan they can follow in retirement,” he said.

“Recordkeepers and plan advisors have an opportunity to help participants develop retirement plans to utilize these products effectively. Perhaps increased access to planning and advice will reduce the need for flexibility that intermediaries and participants seek,” said Bailey.

Two award-winning, dedicated retirement income planning platforms are IncomeConductor and IncomeLab.

Bento Engine Launches Model Context Protocol Layer for AI Agents

Bento Engine has launched its Model Context Protocol layer, which gives AI agents secure, real-time access to the company’s compliant, multi-format content for wealth management firms, enterprise buyers, large RIAs and other fintechs.

The MCP layer allows wealth management firms to integrate Bento’s content into agentic workflows while maintaining regulatory, content and brand standards, according to the company.

“Enterprise firms are moving fast in putting AI agents to work, and they need a way to feed those agents with quality, trusted, and compliant content,” said Philipp Hecker, chief executive officer of Bento Engine. “Our MCP layer is that connective tissue and something that the financial services ecosystem is increasingly embracing, so we wanted to meet firms where they’re at and where they’re going.”

Bento’s content covers life events and age-based milestones and connects directly to AI agents firms already use, according to the company.

Use cases include pre-populating client meeting decks, surfacing personalized advice in client portals, driving retirement-plan engagement, supporting advisor- and client-facing chatbots, and personalizing outreach campaigns at scale.

Every interaction runs through compliance, governance and approval workflows, giving enterprise users control over which agents access which content and in what context, the company said.

Bento already embeds via API into nine CRM systems including Salesforce, Redtail, Wealthbox, Tamarac, SS&C Salentica, Microsoft Dynamics, Practifi, XLR 8 and HubSpot.

Betterment Advisor Solutions Launches Unified Managed Accounts

All-in-one custodial platform Betterment Advisor Solutions has launched Unified Managed Accounts, expanding its portfolio management capabilities and allowing advisors to build personalized, multi-strategy portfolios at scale.

UMAs allow advisors to combine Betterment’s model marketplace portfolios, including Betterment and third-party models, with custom strategies as distinct investment sleeves within a single account, according to the company.

“We’ve always built our offerings around what we hear directly from the advisor community, and one message has been consistent: they want to deliver personalized portfolios at scale,” said Betterment CEO Sarah Levy.

Advisors can configure each sleeve independently while maintaining a consolidated view of the portfolio. Advisors can also establish the overall asset allocation for each account, while Betterment coordinates rebalancing across sleeves to help keep the blended portfolio aligned with the account’s investment design, according to the company.

Betterment’s tax-loss harvesting and gains allowance management extend across sleeves, coordinating gains and losses across strategies.

The launch builds on Betterment’s expansion of its model marketplace earlier this year, which added portfolios from asset managers including Goldman Sachs Asset Management, State Street Investment Management and Vanguard.

UMAs also lay the groundwork for direct indexing as an additional sleeve type, according to the company.

In September, the Betterment unit added an AI document reader to its onboarding experience.

Asset-Map Integrates with AI Assistant Quin to Automate Advisor Workflows

Asset-Map Holdings, Inc., a visual client engagement platform for financial professionals, has integrated with Quin, an AI-powered assistant that automates workflow tasks for financial advisors by combining Asset-Map’s visual financial planning tools with automated meeting preparation, note-taking and follow-up.

The integration allows Quin (not to be confused with the unrelated AI-driven financial planning application Quinn, spelled with two ‘n’s’) to prepare meeting briefs by pulling household details from Asset-Map, take notes during client meetings and update records afterward, while Asset-Map provides a visual presentation of a client’s financial life on a single page.

Before meetings, Quin reviews an advisor’s calendar and prepares briefs for each client meeting, the company said.

During meetings, Asset-Map displays household members, entities, assets, liabilities, cash flows and insurance on one page while Quin takes notes.

After meetings, Quin updates household information in Asset-Map and logs notes to the advisor’s CRM, the company said.

Advisors can register for a webinar demonstrating the integration October 20.

SUBSCRIBE, FactSet Partner on Private Markets Data

SUBSCRIBE, an alts-focused fintech, has partnered with data provider FactSet to integrate SUBSCRIBE’s private markets workflow and data solution into FactSet’s wealth research and data platform.

The integration provides FactSet’s clients with investor onboarding to private funds, digitalized fund subscriptions and centralized post-trade investment reporting.

“Our goal has always been to rebuild the critical infrastructure and data layers required for managing private market fund investments,” SUBSCRIBE Founder and CEO Rafay Farooqui said in a statement. “FactSet is one of the investment and wealth management industries’ leading providers of portfolio performance, risk analytics, and reporting software. Together, we can deliver a truly superior end-to-end experience to institutional and wealth management investors at scale.”

“This partnership creates meaningful value for our clients, streamlining and synthesizing data for greater visibility into private market portfolios,” Greg King, senior director and head of wealth management at FactSet, said in a statement. “As inflows to alternative investments continue to grow, our integrated offering with SUBSCRIBE is uniquely positioned to deliver value across the total portfolio, including both public and private investments.”

MassMutual Extends Flourish Cash to More Than 6,000 Financial Professionals

MassMutual is extending Flourish Cash to the insurer’s network of more than 6,000 financial professionals nationwide in a new enterprise relationship between the two.

Through the relationship, financial professionals affiliated with MassMutual can offer clients access to Flourish Cash, which allows clients to access a high-yield interest rate on their held-away cash.

Flourish Cash provides elevated FDIC insurance coverage of up to $40 million for a two-person household through Flourish’s Program Banks, according to the company.

“Today’s financial advisors are expanding their services to help clients with their entire financial lives, not just the stock-and-bond portfolio. MassMutual can now offer customers a private-bank-like experience that drives both firm growth and client satisfaction,” said Max Lane, chief executive officer of Flourish.

YCharts Launches Risk & Proposal Manager

YCharts, launched Risk & Proposal Manager, a feature that integrates risk assessment, proposals and ongoing client management into one platform.

The risk tolerance questionnaire allows advisors to personalize questions before sending them directly to clients, with standard and extended versions available.

Risk profiles enable advisors to define frameworks that map each client’s risk tolerance to asset allocation targets and model portfolios.

The client management component includes a book-of-business dashboard that tracks assets under management, household count and concentration.

It also provides automatic alerts when a portfolio drifts from its client’s risk target, AI-generated client insights and firm-level oversight for home office users.

Advisors can bulk import client accounts, households and portfolios from connected platforms, including Black Diamond, Orion, Redtail, Schwab and LPL ClientWorks, according to YCharts.