Prudential and LPL expand partnership with retirement income tie-up

Prudential Financial and LPL are deepening their collaboration with a new offering to broaden access to protected retirement solutions for financial advisors.

In a statement Monday, Prudential announced that the two firms are collaborating to introduce an insurance overlay retirement lifetime income strategy within LPL's managed accounts platform.

The new offering is intended to reach advisors who have not traditionally incorporated insurance-led retirement products into their practices, according to the statement.

In its recently published inaugural advisor growth study, LPL found that top growers differentiate themselves by providing clients with comprehensive financial planning or advised retirement plans. A separate survey of advisors conducted at its recent annual conference revealed 50% are getting questions from clients about goals-based financial planning, including retirement readiness.

The announcement also addresses concerning trends unearthed by “Peak 65” research, which found that more than 11,000 Americans are turning 65 each day, yet only a small portion of the $34 trillion in retail retirement assets is protected against longevity and sequence of returns risk.

The most recent Protected Retirement Income and Planning study by the Alliance for Lifetime Income found 30% of consumers ages 61 to 65 are now weighing delayed retirement as more than half harbor doubts about the future of Social Security.

"The Peak 65 surge, chaotic changes at the Social Security Administration, and heightened fears over Social Security’s future are a trifecta of worries prompting many to claim benefits early,” Jason Fichtner, executive director of the Alliance’s Retirement Income Institute, said at the time.

Ann Nanda, head of future growth initiatives and distribution enablement at Prudential Retirement Strategies, said Monday that the new collaboration with LPL will help “expand access to retirement security, helping more clients protect their life’s work, so they can live better lives, longer.” Prudential’s individual, insurance-based retirement products will now be available for consideration by LPL’s network of 29,000 financial advisors.

Cheri Belski, executive vice president and head of LPL Investment Management Solutions, said the collaboration “marks a significant step forward in how we empower advisors and clients to secure their retirement futures.” She added that retirement strategies are central to LPL’s mission, and the firm is “making them a central focus of our ongoing innovation.”

This development builds on a pre-existing foundation of partnership between the two firms. In 2023, Prudential announced it would transition the retail brokerage and investment advisory assets of 2,600 financial advisors from Fidelity’s National Financial Services to LPL Financial. Rather than acquiring Prudential’s retail wealth management business, LPL became the service provider for those advisors, who collectively managed about $50 billion in client assets at the time.

The transition was completed in late 2024, with LPL ultimately investing $300 million in the integration and onboarding process for more than 2,800 advisors. The firms have highlighted the partnership's potential to attract new talent and enhance the advisor experience through expanded offerings and improved operational efficiency.