401(k) Real Talk Episode 215: November 4, 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

There are reports that GTCR, which acquired 25% of Captrust at a $1.25 bn valuation 6 years ago, is looking to sell their stake – for context, Carlyle invested in 2023 at a $3.7 bn valuation and Creative Planning recently raised money at $16bn valuation.

Captrust is the oldest RPA aggregator and the 1st to move into wealth. They have $1.24 trillion AUM with just over $1 trillion in retirement plans. Creative’s AUM is $780 bn bolstered by the Sageview acquisition with almost $300bn in wealth and does not include the pending RVK deal which has $4.3 trillion AUA.

Principals at both Captrust and Creative own a majority interest which allows them to act differently than aggregators owned by PE – both are ahead of most competitors integrating acquired firms which is essential to optimizing scale.

Survey by the LIMRA Retirement Income Institute indicates that rising healthcare costs are causing many participants to decrease their retirement plan contributions. In particular, 21% of Gen Z are cutting deferrals.

Not mentioned, but many plans are reducing their match as healthcare costs are expected to experience double digit increases again next year.

Combined with increased cost of living and more employers pushing healthcare costs on to participants, the effect on DC contribution rates could be significant as benefits become part of the convergence conversation.

Speaking of benefits, the 13th voluntary benefits lawsuit within the last 10 months was filed against AON claiming breach of fiduciary responsibility, prohibited transactions and self dealing.

Specifically, the lawsuit claimed that AON’s commission which were set by the firm paid by participants were alleged to be egregious. Along with fees, AON is contended to have controlled the marketing and placement of the voluntary benefits violating their fiduciary duties.

The transition from commissioned based brokers to fiduciary consultants that started 25 years ago with DC plans is beginning to occur with benefits brokers driven by new fee disclosure laws and regulations and fiduciary as well as lawsuits with one big difference – the fees are 10x.

While the DC industry is hyper focused on finance, people nearing and in retirement face a myriad of other issues including health, social connections, living situations and home care. Most advisors are not prepared or interested in helping with these transitions because, in part, they do not have the skill set and they are not compensated.

In their 2nd annual longevity index created by Manulife John Hancock in partnership with the MIT AgeLab, the 2026 results show no improvement.

With people living longer spending more time in retirement, the industry needs to rethink investments like retirement income and private markets along with the other issues.

Next week’s November 11th 401k Café will delve into these issues – advisors that can help participants with the biggest transition in their lives will distinguish themselves from the competition.

FINALLY

Last week in my training to be an assistant teacher in the Vipassana meditation tradition, the five qualities of a good teacher were discussed which seem relevant to the qualities of being a good advisor.

Read my recent WealthManagement.com/RPA column about those 5 qualities and how advisors need to transition from fiduciary to stewardship which will not only improve outcomes but also benefit advisors.

FINISH

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

Problems plan sponsors face adopting retirement income
How state mandates can open conversations about retirement plans for wealth advisors
Research details what drives advisor growth
Legal issues plan sponsors face using AI and
Mesirow acquires flexPATH 338 business