Empower Adds 500,000 Participants as Part of Record 2025 Earnings
Strong performance from Empower’s Workplace Solutions business helped contribute to record financial results for the year ended December 31, 2025, the company announced today.
The Denver-based retirement services and wealth management firm achieved base earnings of $1.1 billion—an increase of 11% (and 17% in Q4) from 2024—which it said was driven by sustained business growth, strong sales momentum, and continued operating efficiency across both its workplace and wealth management businesses.
“Our 2025 results reflect another year of strong execution by our teams and continued trust from our customers, advisors, and partners.”
Empower President and CEO Edmund F. Murphy III
The data was released as part of a broader quarterly announcement by its parent company, Winnipeg-based Great-West Lifeco, which reported record 2025 base earnings of $1.2 billion, up 12% from 2024.
As for Empower Workplace Solutions, the business generated $23 billion in net plan flows in 2025 and expects positive net plan flows in 2026. For 2025, Empower’s scalable platform generated pre-tax base operating margins of 30% in retirement, up 110 bps from a year ago. The recordkeeper added approximately 500,000 net new plan participants in 2025, an increase of 3%.
Empower Personal Wealth generated growth from net new assets of 14% in 2025, primarily from strong rollover sales, as well as high client retention, the company said in a press release. Empower’s Personal Wealth generated pre-tax base operating margins of 35%, up 120 bps from a year ago.
Empower announced in October 2025 that just two years after implementation, its Personal Wealth unit surpassed $100 billion in assets under administration (AUA).
Empower now administers $2 trillion in AUA for more than 19.5 million individuals. Empower Workplace Solutions manages approximately 89,000 employer-sponsored retirement plans on behalf of 61,000 employers and more than 18.8 million plan participants.
“At the center of Empower’s growth strategy is expanding access to financial advice and helping more people navigate increasingly complex financial decisions. Our 2025 results reflect another year of strong execution by our teams and continued trust from our customers, advisors, and partners,” said Empower President and CEO Edmund F. Murphy III. “The momentum we built throughout 2025 positions Empower well for continued growth as we enter 2026. We remain focused on innovation, scale, and advice delivery to help our clients build the financial security they want and need.”
In January, Empower announced the promotion of Joe Smolen to President of its Workplace Solutions business unit, a role in which he oversees strategy, growth, relationship management and product for the country’s second largest retirement services provider.
SEE ALSO:
• Smolen to Lead Empower’s Workplace Solutions Unit
• Empower’s Personal Wealth Unit Tops $100B
Veteran financial services industry journalist Brian Anderson joined 401(k) Specialist as Managing Editor in January 2019. He has led editorial content for a variety of well-known properties including Insurance Forums, Life Insurance Selling, National Underwriter Life & Health, and Senior Market Advisor. He has always maintained a focus on providing readers with timely, useful information intended to help them build their business.