News & Analysis as of

401k Fiduciary Duty Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)

Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP

Pooled Employer Plans: DOL Issues New Interpretive Guidance and Tips for Employers

On July 29, 2025, the Department of Labor (the “DOL”) published limited interpretive guidance regarding pooled employer plans, or “PEPs,” in the Federal Register (the “New Guidance”). Although PEPs are available to all sizes...more

McDermott Will & Schulte

Trump EO seeks to expand access to alternative investments in retirement plans

On August 7, 2025, President Trump issued an executive order titled “Democratizing Access to Alternative Assets for 401(k) Investors.” The order seeks to clarify the obligations of Employee Retirement Income Security Act...more

Haynes Boone

Trump Administration Issues Executive Order Regarding 401(k) Plan Investments in Alternative Assets

Haynes Boone on

On August 7, 2025, the Trump Administration issued an executive order to provide 401(k) plan participants with greater access to invest in “alternative assets” (the “Executive Order”). Pursuant to the Executive Order,...more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

Why I Love Bitcoin—But Still Don’t Want It in Your 401(k)

Let me start with a confession: I love Bitcoin. I admire what it represents—decentralization, monetary freedom, borderless transactions, and the kind of disruption that makes traditional finance sweat. I hold it, I follow it,...more

Jackson Lewis P.C.

A Fiduciary’s Next Steps After Trump’s August 2025 Executive Order: Opening the 401(k) Door to Alternative Investments

Jackson Lewis P.C. on

On August 7, 2025, President Donald J. Trump issued an Executive Order designed to broaden access to alternative investments, such as private equity, commodities, real estate, and certain digital assets, for participants in...more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

When 401(k) Contributions Disappear: The Harsh Lessons of Micone v. iProcess Online, Inc.

You can cut corners in business. You can play fast and loose with your vendor contracts. You can even get away with sloppy recordkeeping—at least for a while. But when you mess with employee 401(k) contributions, you’re not...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Executive Order Opens the Door to Alternative Assets in 401(k) Plans

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on

Shortly following our Legal Update regarding considerations for institutional investors investing in funds alongside retail investors, on August 7, 2025, President Trump issued an Executive Order (Order) entitled...more

ArentFox Schiff

EO Seeks to Expand Access to Alternative Asset Investments in Retirement Plans

ArentFox Schiff on

On August 7, the White House issued an Executive Order (EO) aimed at broadening Americans’ access to alternative asset investments within employer-sponsored defined-contribution retirement plans, such as 401(k) plans....more

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP

Labor Dept. permits fiduciaries to consider alternative investments for 401(k)s

On August 12, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration rescinded guidance from December 2021 that discouraged fiduciaries from considering alternative assets in the list of investment options...more

Vedder Price

Alternative Investments and 401(k) Plans

Vedder Price on

On August 7, 2025, President Trump signed an Executive Order (the “Order”) directing the Department of Labor (“DOL”) to re-examine guidance on a fiduciary’s duties under ERISA regarding alternative asset investments in 401(k)...more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

Intel Wins: Ninth Circuit Puts the Brakes on Anti-Private Equity Lawsuit

After six long years of litigation, Intel’s 401(k) plan design just got a big legal endorsement. A three-judge panel from the Ninth Circuit dismissed a lawsuit filed by plan participants who claimed that including hedge funds...more

Miller Canfield

New Executive Order Seeks to Facilitate Alternative Investments in 401(k) Plans

Miller Canfield on

On August 7, 2025, President Trump signed an Executive Order titled “Democratizing Access to Alternative Assets for 401(k) Investors.” This Executive Order has the potential to significantly change how retirement savings...more

Troutman Pepper Locke

Retirement Revolution: Expanding Access to Private Credit in 401(k)s

Troutman Pepper Locke on

On August 7, President Donald Trump issued an executive order directing federal agencies, particularly the Department of Labor, to work on expanding access to alternative investments for participants in 401(k) and other...more

Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP

DOL Begins to Act Under the New Executive Order Aimed to Increase Alternative Investments in Retirement Plans

On August 7, 2025, President Trump issued an Executive Order (the “Order”) designed to increase access to investment in certain Alternative Assets (defined below), including private equity, through Internal Revenue Code...more

Holland & Knight LLP

Executive Order Calls for More Access to Retirement Plan Alternative Asset Investment Options

Holland & Knight LLP on

President Donald Trump on Aug. 7, 2025, signed an executive order (EO), "Democratizing Access for 401(k) Investors," and published a related fact sheet. The EO expresses the policy of the Trump Administration that "every...more

Ballard Spahr LLP

Executive Order Seeks to Expand Access to Crypto and Private Investments in Defined-Contribution Plans

Ballard Spahr LLP on

On August 7, 2025, President Trump issued an executive order (the Order) instructing federal agencies to expand access to alternative asset investments for participants in defined-contribution retirement plans such as 401(k)...more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

Beneficiary Statements: No Good Deed Goes Unlitigated

Could listing designated beneficiaries on a participant statement spark a fiduciary breach lawsuit? In today’s world, the answer is always yes — and in LeBoeuf v. Entergy, it did....more

Verrill

Coming Soon to Your 401(k) Plan: Tontines and Other Exotic Investments!

Verrill on

Participants in 401(k) plans and other defined contribution retirement plans may soon have the opportunity to invest their plan accounts in a variety of high-risk and potentially high-return assets. Touted as an effort to...more

McGuireWoods LLP

The Thoughtful Fiduciary’s Guide to Alternative Assets for 401(k) Investors

McGuireWoods LLP on

President Donald Trump issued an Executive Order on Aug. 7, 2025, expanding access for 401(k) plan investors to alternative assets. This alert provides a summary of what the order does and does not do, and offers fiduciaries...more

Holland & Hart - The Benefits Dial

I Might Be In Oklahoma But I’m Not OK … Fiduciary Considerations Following Executive Order Allowing Private Equity in 401(k)s

Last week the White House issued an executive order directing the Department of Labor (DOL) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to facilitate 401(k) participants’ access to alternative investments, including private...more

Seward & Kissel LLP

Democratizing Access to Alternative Assets for 401(k) Investors

Seward & Kissel LLP on

On August 7, 2025, President Trump signed an executive order titled “Democratizing Access to Alternative Assets for 401(k) Investors,” which instructs the Department of Labor (DOL) and the Securities and Exchange Commission...more

Davis Wright Tremaine LLP

Is Your Defined Contribution Plan Ready for Alternative Assets?

President Trump has issued an Executive Order ("Order") to enable defined contribution plans (e.g. 401(k) and 403(b) plans) to invest in "alternative assets," such as private equity, real estate and digital assets. The Order...more

Carlton Fields

Plan Sponsor and Asset Manager Considerations Under 401(k) Alternatives Executive Order

Carlton Fields on

On August 7, 2025, President Trump signed an executive order titled “Democratizing Access to Alternative Assets for 401(k) Investors,” designed to open the use of alternative investments, including private equity and actively...more

Ropes & Gray LLP

Planning to Take Advantage of Executive Order on Alternatives in 401(k)s: Five Key Takeaways and Five Action Items for Managers

Ropes & Gray LLP on

On August 7, 2025, President Trump issued a long-rumored executive order (the “Order”) that calls for expanded access to private equity and other alternative investments for 401(k) plans and their participants. The Order...more

King & Spalding

Executive Order Seeks to Promote Incorporation of Alternative Assets in 401(k) Plans

King & Spalding on

On August 7, 2025, President Trump issued an executive order entitled “Democratizing Access to Alternative Assets for 401(k) Investors” (the “Executive Order”),1 requiring the Department of Labor (“DOL”) and the Securities...more

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