401(k) Real Talk Episode 206: September 4, 2026
Welcome to this week’s edition of 401(k) Real Talk, where Fred Barstein, contributing editor for Wealth Management’s RPA channel, reviews all of last week’s industry news and selects the five most important/interesting stories.
Worth Reading:
Read the full raw transcript below:
Greetings & a warm welcome to this week’s edition of 401k Real Talk. This is Fred Barstein contributing editor at WealthManagement’s RPA omnichannel and CEO at TRAU, TPSU & 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 anyway else. So let’s get real!
FIRST STORY
There are rumors that World Insurance is considering selling the $73 bn former Pensionmark division after restructuring under a new and separate holding company. The company denies that a sale is pending.
Purchased in 2022 and rebranded as World Investment Advisors, Pensionmark’s founder Troy Hammond left in 2025 replaced this year by Ed Walters former COO and head of wealth management at Osaic and Lincoln Financial. It was assumed that Walters was brought in to beef up the wealth practice but perhaps there was another plan.
WIA has 600 employees and 130 branches and is one of the leading RPA Aggregators.
Next story:
Josh Brown, CEO at Ritholtz and RIA influencer, declared on LinkedIn that what he calls “the steroid era for financial advisors” is over. Citing the recent Forbes ranking scandal, the Schwab announcement to raise referral minimums from $500,000 to $5m while hiring thousands, and rising interest rates, Brown warns advisors that they must look beyond PE backed aggregators and get back to basics.
Though RIA M&A activity declined by 9% in the 1st half of 2026 according to Fidelity, assets grew by 88% led mostly by PE backed firms which Brown said are running out of targets and are unlikely to IPO as public markets do not favor roll ups.
NEXT STORY
Consolidation continues in the DCIO market as the big are getting bigger squeezing out smaller competitors according to Cerulli and Sway Research. Scale is a major factor for success which allows larger DCIOs to increase distribution, develop tech and thought leadership, and pay for marketing support of advisors and home office placement fees.
At the same time fund fees are declining led by the move to indexing as well as CITs with some like Great Gray charging seven figure distribution fees.
Sticky assets are attractive with the leading US and global asset managers focused on DC plans. The top 6 TDF managers have an over 80% market share with 96% proprietary funds and just 5% of plans moving according to Cerulli.
Managed accounts, retirement income, custom products and alternatives may offer some opportunities for smaller DCIOs.
NEXT STORY
Don Trone, founder of fi360 and the AIF designation, is railing against the proliferation of industry credentials with what seems like a new one very month calling them poor training models and transactional v. transformational.
These new certifications focus on courses, exams and CE testing knowledge not capabilities, experience, judgment or behavior failing to develop the next leaders. Instead, he proposes a more thoughtful framework, not a list of meaningless letters, which starts with purpose and passion focused on the clients perspective and includes a thoughtful process that takes patience and persistence.
NEXT STORY
Jerome Schlichter along with garnering hundreds of millions in ERISA settlements and wins is keenly focused on stopping non-fiduciary record keepers from cross-selling unrelated products and services.
The latest is part of the Liberty Mutual $13.4 m settlement which agreed to prohibit their record keeper Fidelity from cross-selling products not on the 401k menu. Similar bans were part of settlements with many universities including Columbia, Johns Hopkins, MIT, USC and the University of PA as well as Oracle.
Though unlikely to stop cross selling by record keepers of insurance products, IRAs and wealth services, it is an opportunity for RPAs to differentiate their fiduciary services.
FINALLY
Even though the days of “buy anything that moves” mentality of many RPA aggregators has ended with many shifting to wealth firms, the bloom may be off the rose. The latest rumor that $73 billion World Investment Advisors, formerly Pensionmark, acquired by World Insurance in 2022 is another sign that massive consolidation experienced by 401(k) record keepers is about to hit RPA aggregators.
Read my recent WealthManagement.com/RPA column about what’s next for Aggregators and who is most likely to succeed and why.
FINISH
So those were the most important stories from the past week. I listed a few others I thought were worth reading covering:
Cooperation required for income solutions
Managed accounts create larger accounts
RIA M&A deals declined but assets surged
Vanguard buys advisor trading & custody platform Altruist for $4.6 bn
Please let me know if I missed anything or if you would like to comment. Otherwise I look forward to speaking to you next week on 401k Real Talk.
