401(k) Real Talk Episode 197: June 17, 2026

Greetings and a warm welcome to this week's edition of 401k Real Talk. This is Fred Barstein, contributing editor of Wealth Management's RPA omnichannel and CEO of Trau, TPSU and 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 anywhere else.

So, let's get real. First story, the resilient and booming RAA M&A market is expected to top $4 trillion within a decade according to Cerulli, driven mostly by the 26,000 RAAs projected to retire in that period. The aging advisors tend to have larger businesses than breakaway firms.

In addition, Cerulli reports that 54% of the RAAs are in acquisition mode with hybrids most active. Unrelated, Hightower's PE owner Thomas Lee has officially put the $364 billion firm on the market with Edelman Financial Engines

Signaling renewed interest in acquiring both RAAs and RPAs while RPA aggregators continue their buying spree of wealth advisors. Next story, would private market investments pass SEC mutual fund scrutiny and is that even relevant? It's a question that Chris Tobe poses comparing these investments to the synthetic stable value funds rejected by the SEC over 20 years ago.

So while the DC industry is a buzz with the expected interest rate of more private investments likely within a target date CIT, so not under SEC purview,

And the DOL final rule expected out soon, plan fiduciaries may likely need to conduct additional due diligence. Issues with all cited by Toby include fair market valuation, proper disclosure, soft liquidity assumptions, manipulative benchmarking, weaker regulatory oversight, and higher costs. Next story, Fidelity with 770 billion in their Freedom Fund target date series announced the launch of their Freedom Lifetime CIT series expected out early 2027 in partnership with Nationwide and New York Life, which will include passive and active funds with a built-in guaranteed income option.