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Fiduciary Duty Trump Administration Department of Labor (DOL)

Akerman LLP - HR Defense

What Employers Should Know About Trump’s Executive Order on Expanding Access to Alternative Assets in 401(k) Plans

Employer sponsored 401(k) investment menu offerings may be getting richer in diversified assets, including private equity, cryptocurrency, and other alternative asset investments, based upon a recent executive order signed by...more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

Trump-Era Guidance on 401(k) Investments—Crypto, Private Equity, and What It Means for Plan Providers

I ’ve been around the block long enough to know that ERISA doesn’t care about the latest shiny object. It doesn’t care whether CNBC is hyping Bitcoin as the new gold, or whether private equity firms are pounding the table...more

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

Carlton Fields

New Kids on the Blockchain: Cryptocurrencies in 401(k) Accounts

Carlton Fields on

Department of Labor (DOL) watchers have experienced regulatory whiplash in recent years. During the Biden administration, for example, the DOL issued Compliance Assistance Release (CAR) No. 2022-01, which flouted its...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

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

A&O Shearman

Alts for All: Administration Acts to Open 401(K) Plans to New Asset Classes

A&O Shearman on

On August 7, 2025, President Trump issued an Executive Order (Order) aimed at easing the path for ERISA fiduciaries to make “alternative asset” investments available to participant-directed defined contribution plan...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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Goodwin

Trump Administration’s Executive Order to Facilitate Availability of Alternative Assets in Defined Contribution Plans: What Does...

Goodwin on

On August 7, 2025, the Trump Administration issued a long-awaited executive order (the “Executive Order”) to encourage sponsors of 401(k) and other participant-directed defined-contribution plans that are governed by the...more

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive...

Trump Signs Executive Order Directing the DOL and SEC to Facilitate 401(k) Plan Access to Alternative Assets

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

Carlton Fields

Unsafe Harbor? Deregulation and the Limit of the Secure Act Safe Harbor for Selection of Lifetime Income Provider

Carlton Fields on

On January 31, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14192, titled“ Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation.” Its stated purpose was to encourage the reduction of private expenditure required to comply with federal...more

Latham & Watkins LLP

US Government Reopens Discussion of Private Pension Investments Expectations

Latham & Watkins LLP on

The Department of Labor has taken two recent actions that indicate where the approach to retirement investment policy may go under the new administration....more

Morgan Lewis - ML Benefits

US Administration Announces Intent to Replace Biden-Era ESG Rule

The US Department of Labor’s (DOL’s) position on the appropriateness of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing strategies in ERISA-regulated retirement plans has ping-ponged for decades (as we’ve covered...more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

Here we go again

Here’s the short version: the Department of Labor’s decision to reopen the Biden-era ESG rule is overdue—and welcome....more

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