401(k) Real Talk Episode 211: October 7, 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 Omni Channel and CEO at TRAU, GPSU and 401kTV. I review all of the past 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 September job market report, the last one before the midterm elections, tame, adding just 29,000 jobs, led by healthcare, construction and manufacturing versus the expected 90,000 with previous months' numbers revised down by 30,000. Unemployment rates increased as did the percentage of unemployed people looking for a job more than 1 month in what one expert called a low-fire, low-hire environment.

All of which is unlikely to cause the Fed to lower interest rates anytime soon. Cost concerns due to tariffs and oil prices, as well as AI, are making employers cautious, not helped by the expected double-digit increases in healthcare next year. Retirement benefits will be even more valuable to retain workers, especially younger ones, who tend to change jobs more frequently as the cost to replace them is 1.3 times their compensation.

Next story, Edward Jones with 20,000 reps and 50 billion in DC plan assets across 10 record keepers is doubling down on retirement plans extending their relationship with tech-enabled TPA Ablon, in which Jones has invested, as well as licensing tools for their reps from RPAC. They report that 2/3 of their reps manage a retirement plan. Jones is very well positioned to work with smaller businesses and coordinate as new plan formation is exploding due to government mandates.

Because their reps are willing to work with less affluent investors, they can better leverage the convergence of wealth and retirement at work than most larger firms, especially wirehouses.