The retirement plan advisory business has a growth problem - but only for those not paying attention to how the top quartile operates.
A new survey from BlackRock, released October 27, 2026, draws a sharp line between the industry's highest-growth defined contribution practices and the rest of the market, revealing that the gap is not primarily about market performance, but about how advisors run their businesses.
The 2026 BlackRock Read on Retirement Plan Advisor Survey, fielded by independent research firm Escalent between August 6 and August 24, 2026, polled more than 300 retirement plan advisors across five channels - bank broker-dealers, independent broker-dealers, registered investment advisors, regional broker-dealers, and wirehouses - each managing at least $10 million in DC plan assets.
The research introduces what BlackRock calls the DC Practice Index, which segments respondents into high-growth (HG) cohorts based on three-year DC AUM growth, revenue growth, new plan acquisition rates, and client retention. What emerges is a data-driven portrait of the behaviors that separate the most successful practices from the field.
High-growth practices posted 121% DC AUM growth from 2023 to 2025, compared with 28% for the rest of the market, according to the BlackRock survey. Revenue growth among the HG cohort reached 138%, against 32% for their peers. Client retention averaged 90% for top performers versus 86% for the broader market - a gap that compounds meaningfully over time.
One of the clearest findings is where growth originates. High-growth practices derive a 36% greater share of their expansion from existing clients rather than relying on market appreciation. They allocate 28% more of their time to business development and report participant-to-wealth conversion rates above 20% at a rate 68% higher than the rest of the market.
Rather than treating the retirement plan as a closed product relationship, top-performing advisors are treating it as a gateway to broader financial planning engagements with participants and with business owners. Three in five high-growth practices report that plan relationships often or very often lead to managing the business owner's personal investable assets, a rate 60% higher than peers, according to the BlackRock data.
The mid-market - defined as plans with assets between $100 million and $1 billion — was identified as the greatest growth opportunity by 31% of high-growth practices, compared with 16% of the rest of the market, according to the BlackRock data. That segment combines meaningful plan assets with genuine demand for sophisticated advice and more accessible economics than the large-plan market.
Nearly eight in 10 plan advisors across the full survey sample are already discussing retirement income with clients, the BlackRock research found. But high-growth practices are doing something different: they are using it as a competitive weapon.
High-growth advisors are 91% more likely to view income consulting as a major five-year growth opportunity and 65% more likely to cite it as a competitive differentiator. They are more than twice as likely to discuss guaranteed income within qualified default investment alternatives, or QDIAs, compared with the broader market.
As InvestmentNews has reported, retirement plan advisors are increasingly deploying AI and personalized retirement income solutions to reshape how defined contribution plans are being built - a trend the BlackRock data confirms is accelerating among the highest performers.
When it comes to selecting QDIAs, high-growth practices are 51% more likely to base the decision on client circumstances rather than a preferred investment strategy. They favor a combination of mutual funds and collective investment trusts based on plan needs, and are 44% more likely to use both vehicles than peers.
Perhaps the starkest finding involves artificial intelligence. Among high-growth practices, 92% are already using AI, compared with 78% of the rest of the market. More notably, 70% of high-growth advisors identify AI as a top operational investment for the next three years, versus 55% for their peers.
The applications go well beyond note-taking. Top practices are deploying AI for client communications, data analysis, proposal generation, prospecting, and participant education.
As a separate study from T. Rowe Price found, retirement plan advisors have broadly moved past AI experimentation and are now deploying it across daily operations.
Among BlackRock's high-growth cohort, the shift is even more pronounced - they expect AI to automate approximately 34% of administrative work, compared with 28% for the rest of the market.
High-growth practices are also 27% more likely to identify AI as a top operational investment and 69% more likely to use it specifically for proposal generation and 73% more likely to use it for prospecting - two commercially sensitive activities that directly feed revenue.
On practice management, the differentiators are intentional rather than instinctive. High-growth advisors are 54% more likely to segment clients by future growth potential rather than current asset levels alone. They are 40% more likely to use tiered service models and 51% more likely to track client profitability as a performance metric.
The result is a business built around forward-looking economics. Rather than protecting time for the highest-asset clients, high-growth practices identify which relationships have the most runway - and direct resources accordingly.
The broader backdrop adds urgency. BlackRock's companion participant research, also released in 2026, found that projected workplace savings may generate only 50% to 60% of the retirement income participants expect from their plans. That gap represents both a challenge and a sizable opportunity for advisors prepared to deepen their engagement and expand their service models beyond plan consulting alone.
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