A new study finds retirement plan advisors have largely moved past experimentation with artificial intelligence and are now deploying it across daily operations, while private assets and personalized retirement income solutions continue to reshape how defined contribution (DC) plans are being built.
The sixth annual Defined Contribution Consultant Study, from Baltimore-based global asset management firm T. Rowe Price, draws on responses from 36 leading consulting and advisory firms representing more than 160,000 DC plan sponsor clients. Collectively, those firms oversee $10.3 trillion in DC plan assets under advisement or approximately 72% of the total $14.2 trillion DC plan market, according to Investment Company Institute data as of December 31, 2025.
"At T. Rowe Price, our research is driven by a spirit of curiosity and a commitment to uncovering deeper insights," said Jessica Sclafani, head of the Retirement Strategist Team at T. Rowe Price. "By capturing the insights of leading consultants and advisors, we are better equipped to anticipate emerging trends, incorporate client preferences into our solutions, and help clients make more informed decisions in an evolving retirement landscape."
The big shift in this year's data involves artificial intelligence. In 2025, 44% of respondent firms described their use of AI as too early to evaluate, according to the study. By 2026, that share had dropped to 14%, marking a 30-percentage-point decline in a single year.
Operational efficiency and client preparation are driving the most widespread adoption. The study found that 78% of firms report using AI routinely to improve internal workflows, while 67% use it to streamline client meeting preparation and 47% for outreach efforts. Usage for plan design and benchmarking and participant engagement remains far lower, at 12% and 9% respectively - areas where fiduciary judgment and human expertise still dominate.
One finding with clear implications for how firms structure their technology programs: respondents operating under formal AI governance policies used AI tools roughly 50% more frequently across business functions than those without such policies. The data suggest that defined guardrails accelerate adoption rather than slow it.
Momentum for private assets inside DC plans has continued building, and this year's study reflects growing conviction, not just curiosity, among consultants and advisors.
Respondents were asked to rate the likelihood of various alternative investment strategies being incorporated into DC plans over the next 12 to 24 months, using a scale of 1 (least likely) to 4 (most likely).
Private credit received a mean likelihood score of 2.6 in 2026, up sharply from 1.7 in 2024. Private equity moved from 1.6 to 2.2 over the same two-year period. The expectation across nearly all private asset categories increased with hedge funds the lone exception.
Respondents were clear about how they expect those allocations to be delivered: predominantly through target-date funds, both custom and off-the-shelf. The preference aligns with broader product trends. Co-manufactured target-date solutions have grown to more than $70 billion in assets across DC recordkeepers as of year-end 2025, an increase of more than 50% from the prior year, according to data from Sway Research.
Cryptocurrency is a different matter. Three-quarters of respondents said they view digital assets as best suited for self-directed brokerage windows — not the plan's core lineup. As private assets in DC plans move toward the mainstream, the study reinforces the distinction consultants are drawing between professionally managed exposure to illiquid credit and equity strategies versus standalone, participant-selected alternatives.
The Department of Labor's March 2026 proposed safe harbor rule - which would provide ERISA fiduciaries with a process-based standard for including alternative investments in DC plan lineups - has created additional policy tailwinds. Whether that translates into plan-level action over the next 12 months remains a key question the industry is watching.
The study also tracks a deepening focus on participant-level customization and decumulation support. Managed accounts, retirement planning tools, and pre-retiree communications all posted meaningful gains in consultant support ratings from 2021 to 2026. Support for pre-retiree communications rose from 2.7 to 3.1 on a scale of 1 to 4, while retirement planning tools climbed from 2.5 to 2.9 and managed accounts from 2.5 to 2.8 over the same five-year span.
Support for managed accounts as a qualified default investment alternative - a strategy that would place participants into managed accounts from enrollment - remains limited. A more popular framework is the dynamic QDIA model, which transitions participants from a target-date fund into a managed account as they approach retirement. The study rated that approach at 2.2 out of 4 and noted that consultants who engage directly with participants were considerably more likely to back the model.
On the income side, a simple systematic withdrawal capability earned the highest appeal score at 3.2 - a reflection of plan sponsors' priority to convert retirement savings into predictable income streams without adding operational complexity. Target-date funds with an embedded non-guaranteed managed payout feature ranked second at 2.8, while managed accounts with income planning features scored 2.6.
Capital preservation is another area under review. The study found that 52% of firms cited poor stable value performance as a factor influencing their evaluation of capital preservation options - a 33-percentage-point increase from five years earlier.
That shift reflects the period since 2022 when stable value crediting rates lagged money market yields, prompting some consultants to explore transitioning plans from stable value general accounts to pooled fund structures in search of more competitive returns.
The gap between stable value and money market yields has narrowed in 2026, but the episode has left retirement plan advisors reassessing their capital preservation strategies more rigorously than before.
The study shows near-unanimous support for target-date solutions offered in collective investment trusts, consistent with multi-year trends and market data showing CITs now account for more than half of the total target-date market, per Sway Research.
Blended target-date funds - those combining both active and passive strategies - remain strongly preferred. Cost effectiveness was the top cited factor, noted by 71% of respondents, followed by the ability to capitalize on market inefficiencies (56%) and optimized performance potential (41%). On financial wellness, 66% of respondent firms reported evaluating recordkeeper-provided programs, while nearly half (47%) said such programs are now being included as part of their standard retainer fee - up from 29% in 2023.
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