When retirement policymakers sought to incentivize small businesses to begin offering retirement plans in an effort to help close the coverage gap, they did so in part by creating greatly expanded federal tax credits that would offset their cost in providing those plans.

But research has found fewer than 6% of eligible employers are properly claiming the tax credit—and that’s a problem that doesn’t sit well with retirement plan advisor Will Hackler, AIF, the “401(k) Fix-It Guy” who is the Managing Partner at Integrated Pension Services. Hackler says there’s a real awareness problem regarding the tax credit, and that advisors need to step in to make sure eligible firms (and their tax-filing CPAs) know about and take advantage of a program intended specifically for them.

In this episode, Hackler explains the tax credit, the problem and potential solutions.

As part of 401(k) Specialist’s Q2 Deep Dive on target-date funds, Editor-in-Chief Brian Anderson sits down with Mercer Director of Defined Contribution Strategic Research Teams Preet Prashar to discuss the rapidly evolving TDF landscape—from market concentration and glidepath design to passive investing, fiduciary concerns, lifetime income solutions, and private assets.

Drawing from Mercer’s recent white paper, “Target Date Landscape: The Evolution of Target Date Strategies and Future Considerations,” Prashar shares key insights plan sponsors and advisors should consider as target-date funds continue to dominate the defined contribution marketplace.

SEE ALSO:

• $4.8 Trillion and Growing: Why Traditional TDFs are Still Key to 401(k) Success
• Executive Q&A: Refining Accumulation Strategies Through TDFs with MFS’ Jeri Savage

In this episode, Jessica Porter and Hayley Porter, financial planners at BPG Wealth Management, speak to 401(k) Specialist about the 401(k) Girls, a financial education platform aiming to make financial wellness accessible and exciting for professionals and their clients.  

Jessica and Hayley, who were featured in 401(k) Specialist’s Profiles in Participant Outcomes in 2025, started the 401k Girls in January last year after noticing a need to make retirement and financial planning more approachable to clients online.

The duo—who are not sisters—use social media outlets like LinkedIn and Instagram to provide quick tips and insights on financial savings. There’s #FactorFictionFriday, where the 401k Girls will poll scrollers on common financial misconceptions at the end of the week, or “Porter’s Pennies,” where the two offer simple tips that can strengthen planning.

Jessica and Hayley also speak more about engaging younger workers in financial planning, and what the financial services industry has left to learn about meeting women clients where they’re at.

Advisor Insights

• Winning the Finalist Presentation: How offering a "Hope-based" engagement model like GigMatch differentiates you from advisors stuck in "Fear-based" messaging
• Reducing Financial Stress for Sponsors: Leveraging the $5/month subscription model as a low-cost, high-impact benefit recommendation for advisors.
• The "Lifetime Income" Complement: How to use the gig economy to supplement Social Security and 401(k) distributions when the math doesn't quite add up.
• Strategic Partnerships: Insights into the Tom Kmak (Fiduciary Decisions) algorithm and how institutional-grade data is powering these participant matches.

In this episode, industry innovator George Fraser introduces GigMatch, a B2B subscription-based platform that 401(k) advisors can offer to plan sponsors to help participants close the retirement savings gap. By replacing 'fear-based' retirement messaging with 'hope-based' supplemental income matching, advisors can differentiate their practice, reduce financial stress, and provide a tangible roadmap for the 90% of participants who have not saved enough to retire comfortably.

George Fraser, who was named 401(k) Specialist’s first-ever “Top Advisor by Participant Outcomes” in 2017, is starting a new career chapter with the introduction of GigMatch, an innovative app designed to be a game-changer for the vast majority of Americans who deal with financial stress on a daily basis.

GigMatch, making its official debut May 1, is being unveiled on the exhibit hall floor at the NAPA 401(k) Summit in Tampa. On the podcast, Fraser explains how GigMatch, developed with his partner Tom Kmak, will provide hope to people who think they haven’t saved for retirement through individually tailored opportunities to enhance income and lifestyle—both today and in retirement.

There’s a lot of increased attention about adding private markets investments to 401(k) plans in the wake of President Trump’s 2025 Executive Order on alternatives, and participants are starting to take notice.

Invesco’s recent DC Participant Pulse Survey had some very interesting findings about participant perceptions of private markets, which we explore in this episode with Greg Jenkins, Managing Director, DC Solutions at Invesco. Greg shares insights about participant familiarity with private markets, which types are most interested, and even which words and phrases resonate best with participants.

Check out the research at this link: 2026 DC Pulse Survey: Exploring participant views on AI and private markets

Much of the technology infrastructure that powers the workplace retirement plan industry could use an update to improve on old legacy systems to better serve the needs of today’s 401(k) participants.

To learn more about how and why it needs to evolve, we talk with techno-business leader Mahesh Natarajan, Chief Revenue Officer at Congruent Solutions, which has been a specialist technology solutions and outsourced plan administration provider to the retirement industry since 2004.

We’ll talk about how he sees value in a modular approach to innovation instead of a full technology overhaul, the concept of “invisible AI,” how recordkeepers need to evolve into “retirement orchestrators,” and more.

In this special edition of the 401(k) Specialist Podcast—part of our Deep Dive series on “How Not to Get Sued”—Editor-in-Chief Brian Anderson sits down with legendary ERISA attorney Fred Reish to examine how fiduciary risk is evolving in today’s regulatory and litigation environment.

Now serving as Director of Fiduciary and ERISA Practice at Prime Capital Retirement, Reish shares insights on the shifting landscape of ERISA litigation, emerging concerns around private assets in 401(k) plans, and the Department of Labor’s evolving posture under the second Trump administration.

The conversation also explores artificial intelligence, pooled employer plans, in-plan lifetime income solutions, and what fiduciaries should be watching next for fiduciary risk. For advisors and plan sponsors focused on protecting participants—and protecting themselves—this is essential listening.

Eric Dyson, Executive Director of 90 North Consulting and one of the retirement industry’s more active ERISA expert witnesses, joins the 401(k) Specialist Podcast for a practical conversation on how plan sponsors and advisors can reduce fiduciary risk—and be better prepared if the Department of Labor comes calling.

Drawing on his experience testifying in more than a dozen ERISA cases, Dyson shares the most common mistakes he sees in litigation and investigations, why a DOL audit may be a bigger risk than a lawsuit for most plans, and what courts actually expect from fiduciaries. He tackles pressing questions around paying advisors and TPAs with plan assets, properly documenting QDIA selections to secure safe harbor protection, conducting RFPs and benchmarking at “reasonable intervals,” and crafting committee meeting minutes that protect rather than expose.

Dyson also provides clear, actionable steps sponsors can take before their next committee meeting to strengthen governance, document prudence, and stay off the litigation radar, and reduce fiduciary risk.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This podcast episode is part of our new “Deep Dive” special content package for Q1 2026 titled, “How Not to Get Sued.” You can find additional coverage in the links below, and more focused content will be available in the coming days.

SEE ALSO:

• How Not to Get Sued in 2026: Part 1
• How Not to Get Sued 2026: Part 2

As retirement planning strives to become more personalized, plan sponsors are under increasing pressure to offer solutions that meet participants where they are—not just by age or account balance, but by considering their full financial picture. That’s where workplace managed accounts can really make a difference.

Lorianne Pannozzo, Senior Vice President, Personalized Planning & Advice at Fidelity Investments and leader of the firm’s workplace managed accounts program, joins us to explain the increasing demand for managed accounts, and also to dig into new Fidelity research on what participants value most about them and what that means for retirement plan advisors and plan sponsors.

To check out an executive summary of the new research discussed in the podcast, click here: Unlocking the Value of Workplace Managed Accounts, or check out the entire paper at this link: More than an investment portfolio: Participant insights on the value and impact they receive from workplace managed accounts.

In the first new 401(k) Specialist Pod(k)ast episode of 2026, Editor-in-Chief Brian Anderson sits down with Kelby Meyers, founder and CEO of Nestimate, to explore the evolving landscape of in-plan retirement income and the Nestimate Retirement Income Summit.

Meyers discusses the upcoming second annual Nestimate Retirement Income Summit, shares insights on new initiatives at Nestimate—including its recently launched TDF-IQ analytics tool—and weighs in on what the Vanguard-TIAA target-date CIT with a built-in annuity could signal for the future of default investments. The conversation also examines how advisors and plan sponsors can better evaluate lifetime income options, manage fiduciary risk, and prepare for key developments shaping the retirement income market in 2026 and beyond.

Key Insights

1. Retirement Income Summit Offers Critical Education for Advisors
The second annual Estimate Retirement Income Summit aims to help plan advisors, sponsors, and home office professionals better understand and evaluate in-plan lifetime income solutions. With speakers like Matthew Eichman, Brendan McCarthy, and Spencer Look, the event emphasizes fiduciary clarity and objective analysis of evolving income strategies.

2. Vanguard-TIAA Collaboration Marks a Market Shift
The launch of a target date collective investment trust (CIT) by Vanguard and TIAA is seen as a turning point in the retirement income landscape. Vanguard’s rare move after 22 years signals growing industry momentum toward embedding annuities in target date funds to ensure retirement income security.

3. Technology and Recordkeeper Integration Drive Adoption
Tools like Estimate’s TDF-IQ offer fiduciaries an outcome-based framework for evaluating annuity-infused target date funds. Meanwhile, broader recordkeeper availability and support for annuity options could help solve portability challenges, accelerating adoption of lifetime income solutions in 2026.

SEE ALSO:

• Nestimate Introduces TDF Analyzer