News & Analysis as of

401k Retirement Plan Department of Labor (DOL)

K&L Gates LLP

United States: US$12.2 Trillion Opportunity–Executive Order Paves the Way for Easier 401(k) Plan Access to Alternative Investments

K&L Gates LLP on

On 7 August 2025, President Trump signed an executive order intended to modernize the 401(k) investment universe, directing the Secretary of Labor to clarify the US Department of Labor’s (DOL) position on fiduciary duties in...more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

The DOL is Right to Scrap the Annuity Safe Harbor

The Insured Retirement Institute (IRI) is once again carrying water for the annuity industry, this time urging the Department of Labor to retain a regulatory safe harbor that’s already obsolete. The safe harbor in question,...more

Keating Muething & Klekamp PLL

Benefits Monthly Minute - August 2025

The August Monthly Minute brings you the latest guidance on ERISA retirement plan investment in alternative assets and highlights a recent ruling in mental health parity nonquantitative treatment limitation (NQTL) litigation....more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

Small Employers + PEPs: The DOL Wants Your Input

The Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) just dropped an RFI (RIN 1210–AC10) and some limited guidance on pooled employer plans (PEPs), asking for public input, especially from small...more

Snell & Wilmer

Ninth Circuit Weighs Employer’s Use of Non‑Vested 401(k) Funds

Snell & Wilmer on

What can employers do with non-vested employer contributions? Under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”), employers may require an employee to work for a set number of years before any company...more

Hall Benefits Law

President Signals Policy Shift With High Stakes for 401(k) Plans

Hall Benefits Law on

On August 7, 2025, the Trump administration issued an executive order directing federal agencies to broaden retirement plan participants’ access to alternative assets—including cryptocurrency, private equity, private credit,...more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

Just Push Play: The Fiduciary Reality Check For 401(k) Plan Sponsors

I t was 2001 when Aerosmith dropped Just Push Play, and while it was no Rocks or Toys in the Attic, it packed a punch. That title track? A distorted, energetic anthem about dropping the hesitation and just going forward. No...more

Fox Rothschild LLP

Trump Executive Order Calls for Review of Alternative Assets in 401(k) Plans

Fox Rothschild LLP on

President Trump has issued an Executive Order (EO) that could reshape how alternative assets are treated in defined contribution retirement plans. The directive requires the Department of Labor (DOL) to revisit its past...more

Haynes Boone

DOL Rescinds its Prior Guidance on Alternative Assets in 401(k) Plans

Haynes Boone on

On August 12, 2025, the DOL issued a press release (the “Release”) announcing that it is rescinding its prior guidance regarding the use of alternative assets as an investment option under a 401(k) plan’s investment menu....more

Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck

Trump Administration Begins Swift Implementation of 401(k) EO

The Trump administration is moving quickly to implement the president’s Aug. 7 executive order (EO) to expand retirement savers’ access to alternative investments in private markets through defined contribution (DC) plans,...more

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

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

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

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

Morgan Lewis - ML Benefits

Latest Executive Order Could Redefine Retirement Investing

The US administration recently issued an executive order to expand access to alternative investments in ERISA-governed retirement accounts. The order titled Democratizing Access to Alternative Investments for America's...more

Lowenstein Sandler LLP

Crypto Brief - Lowenstein Crypto Newsletter - August 14, 2025

Lowenstein Sandler LLP on

Trump Signs Executive Order To Expand 401(k) Access to Alternative Assets- President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Aug. 7 directing the Department of Labor to review guidelines that could open 401(k) retirement...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

Epstein Becker & Green

We’re Not in Kansas Anymore: ESG, Cryptocurrency, and Alternative Asset Investments in 401(k) Plans, Oh My!

Epstein Becker & Green on

What You Need to Know - The Trump Administration has shifted away from Biden-era rules related to certain investments, like alternative asset investments, ESG, and cryptocurrency in 401(k) plans....more

Cooley LLP

Private Equity and Venture Capital Investments for 401(k) Plans?

Cooley LLP on

On August 7, President Donald Trump signed an executive order (Democratizing Access to Alternative Assets for 401(k) Investors) that has been widely – and mistakenly – reported to open 401(k) plan assets to “alternative...more

Jones Day

White House Opens Door to Broader Inclusion of Alternative Assets in Defined Contribution Retirement Plans

Jones Day on

A hotly anticipated August 7, 2025, executive order, "Democratizing Access to Alternative Assets for 401(k) Investors" ("EO"), aims to reduce regulatory barriers and significantly expand access to "alternative...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

Eversheds Sutherland (US) LLP

White House issues executive order: “Democratizing Access for Alternative Assets for 401(k) Investors”

On August 7, 2025, the White House issued an executive order called “Democratizing Access to Alternative Assets for 401(k) Investors” (Order). The Order focuses on 401(k) plans and other participant-directed defined...more

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