Three Shifts Defining the Retirement Advisor’s Role in 2026
Rising healthcare costs, financial stress, regulatory scrutiny and employee disengagement are some of the biggest headlines in employee benefits this year. As a result, retirement plan advisors must evolve from strictly investment strategists to strategic risk and wellbeing partners.
On the surface, employee-sponsored retirement plans appear healthy. However, while 86% of employees with access to their retirement plan participate, nearly 40% are reducing contributions due to economic concerns. Thus, ensuring employees’ financial wellbeing in 2026 will go beyond just offering a solid retirement plan.
The following three shifts outline how the retirement plan advisor’s role will be redefined in 2026 and the best practices you can leverage to remain agile in the face of rapid change.
- Retirement plans now create risk for employers and advisors.
Retirement plans may be threatened by legal, operational, cyber, and reputational risks. For example, trends point to more lawsuits against plan sponsors and advisors. More specifically, since 2023, plaintiffs have filed more than 30 class action lawsuits alleging that the use of 401(k) plans to offset future employer contributions violates several provisions of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).
In addition, retirement plan sponsors, while having largely digested the changes from Secure 2.0, will face additional mandates this year, including new rules on Super Catch-Up contributions. Also, ransomware and social engineering attacks against ERISA plans remain threats that pose risks to plan sponsors’ reputations and potential losses for investors.
These implications offer up an opportunity for retirement advisors to consider the landscape and formulate plans that provide safeguards against risk.
Best Practices
- Reframe annual committee meetings to include regulatory, legislative, and litigation updates, not just performance.
- Expand conversations to include cybersecurity controls and data governance.
- Help sponsors stress-test plan operations, not just outcomes.
- Employee financial wellbeing plays a larger role in retirement plan participation.
For retirement advisors, employee financial wellbeing is increasingly tied to plan participation, contribution rates and long-term retirement readiness. Participation depends on employee buy-in, yet overall employee engagement has declined to 31% as employees reassess financial security and their future at work.
A persistent gap exists between benefit availability and utilization. While 53% of employers offer wellbeing benefits, only 16% of employees use them, according to HUB’s 2025 Workforce Vitality Gap Index. The same participation gap exists for financial wellbeing solutions; although 38% of employers offer these programs, only 16% of employees use them.
This disconnect represents a meaningful advisory opportunity. Retirement advisors can help sponsors integrate financial wellbeing into plan design, participant education and communication strategies to improve engagement and outcomes.
By positioning financial wellbeing as a driver of participation and retirement readiness advisors can increase plan effectiveness while strengthening their role as strategic partners.
Best Practices
- Position retirement plans as part of a broader financial wellbeing ecosystem to prevent mid-career burnout for professionals juggling work and caregiving responsibilities. Consider increasing the therapy coverage limit for those in need.
- Provide employees with data drive AI tools to deliver personalized guidance – wellness is not one size fits all.
- Help align retirement strategies with employee behavior and organizational goals, not just plan design.
- Benefits decisions are increasingly interdependent.
Employers now expect retirement advisors to move beyond plan mechanics and understand broader workforce dynamics. As benefits decisions become increasingly interdependent, their impact on employee satisfaction and engagement has grown more pronounced.
Arguably, the most important benefit is flexibility and work-life balance, with 41% of employees saying it’s their most-valued benefit, even ahead of job security and compensation. Retirement advisors should consider this trend, and help employees chose benefits that reflect that.
As previously discussed, employee wellbeing is important, and directly affects engagement and plan participation. By considering benefits trends and employee’s values, retirement advisors can make changes to their plans that encourage employee well-being and maintain engagement as a result.
Best Practices
- Collaborate with benefits and HR teams to create holistic plans.
- Use workforce data and segmentation to personalize plan strategies.
- Help employers connect retirement outcomes to engagement and retention goals.
Moving Forward
In 2026, retirement advisors will be defined by their ability to anticipate risk rather than to react to it. As fiduciary exposure, employee expectations and regulatory pressures intensify, advisors must move beyond plan mechanics and speak the language of total rewards. In other words, they must connect retirement outcomes to health, wellbeing, flexibility and workforce engagement.
Employers are no longer looking for isolated solutions. They need trusted partners who can help them navigate uncertainty, make informed trade-offs and align benefits decisions with organizational goals.
Matt Escalante, CFP®, is Senior Vice President, HUB FinPath Financial Wellness. In this role, he leads the group retirement plan advisor team that develops quarterly investment reviews and presents to investment advisory committees established by clients. Matt has held a variety of positions at HUB, including Investment Advisor to private clients, Regional Sales Director of group benefits and retirement plans, and Senior Director responsible for working closely with clients to develop retirement planning education and engagement activities for their employees.