Market research firm Cerulli Associates predicts that financial advisors will play an even bigger role in the defined contribution plan market as the industry is set to see growth in micro 401(k) plans, those with less than $5 million in assets.

Cerulli conducted an online survey of 24 DC recordkeepers in the third and fourth quarters of 2024 for its “U.S. Retirement Market 2024” report. It found that 57% of those recordkeepers said between 50% and 99% of DC plans were already being sold through advisors.

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However, there is an expectation that the number of micro DC plans will grow from roughly 600,000 today to over a million in a decade, spurred by SECURE 2.0 tax incentives and state-sponsored retirement plan programs. This is likely to lead to greater involvement from financial advisors in selling those plans to their existing clients. For example, 83% of surveyed recordkeepers said the percentage of wealth advisors or non-specialist plan advisor firms in the market will increase over the next three years.

“I think advisors can capitalize on the existing wealth management relationships they have with small business owner clients to sell plans to those already existing clients,” said Elizabeth Chiffer, research analyst, retirement, with Cerulli and the lead author on the report. “Also, if they don’t already have relationships with those plans through wealth management [contacts], they might seek to work with small business owners to get them more wealth management clients. I think advisors have always kind of worked on the smaller end of the market. So, we expect that to continue.”

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A Cerulli survey of 401(k) plan participants found that 25% of those who work with a financial advisor found them through their plan provider or advisor.