Originally published in The Daily Upside on August 11, 2026.
Advisors who don’t work with 401(k) plans might assume the rules applying to investment selection provide long-settled, clear-cut and easy-to-apply guidance.
They would be wrong, according to Bonnie Treichel, founder of Endeavor Retirement and partner at Endeavor Law, despite the fact that 401(k)s have existed since the early 1980s and currently hold some $10 trillion in assets. The reality is that retirement plan regulations are in constant flux, and Treichel is tracking at least three major issues that could significantly affect advisors and plan sponsors in the coming months, including a major Supreme Court case and two potential rule changes from the Department of Labor. Add to that a new wave of litigation challenging financial advisors’ and asset managers’ use of plan participant data to “cross-sell” wealth management services outside the 401(k) and the picture gets even more complicated.