November 18, 2026

Fiduciary Alert: Your 401(k) Menu Is About to Change

What You Will Learn

  • What’s actually changing: how the proposed rule opens the door to alternative assets in DC plans, and why target date funds are expected to be the primary vehicle
  • The new safe harbor process designed to give fiduciaries greater confidence and reduce litigation risk
  • The six factors DOL says should guide investment decisions
  • Practical steps you can take now to get ahead of what's coming in 2027
Register

For plan sponsors, that means the investment options on your menu — and the process you use to select and defend them — are about to look different heading into 2027.

Private equity. Crypto. Private credit. For the first time, the Department of Labor is clearing the way for these to show up in mainstream 401(k) menus — most likely inside the target date funds nearly every plan already uses. A proposed DOL rule on fiduciary duties in selecting plan investments would give fiduciaries a safe harbor for adding them, and after a public comment period that closed this summer, the rule is now headed toward finalization.