Well, that was a mixed bag.

It was a major week for financial institutions, with a hefty handful of the biggest players reporting fourth-quarter earnings yesterday. There were signs of strength, with Bank of America posting record fourth-quarter income in its wealth unit, but overall, investors were unimpressed. Wells Fargo’s stock fell 5% Wednesday, while Bank of America’s and JPMorgan’s declined 4%. The earnings calls may not have been what some analysts were expecting, but executives said they were still focused on growing wealth management segments despite the earnings misses.

“We are … focusing on serving our bank and wealth management customers, which will help improve profitability,” Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Scharf said on an earnings call.

We’re Interested

Part of the problem for Wells Fargo was a miss on net interest income — the difference between what it earns on loans and pays on deposits, and a revenue stream that has been dwindling across the industry in recent years. The shortcoming was due, in part, to a $1.95 trillion asset cap the Federal Reserve imposed in 2018, but removed in June of last year, Scharf said. The fourth quarter of 2025 was the first full quarter that the bank operated without the cap. “The removal of the asset cap by the Federal Reserve was a pivotal moment for the company,” he said.

Bank of America’s wealth management unit was a bright spot, recording net income of $1.4 billion in the fourth quarter. That was good for a 20% increase year over year. The parent company of Merrill Lynch aslo reported:

• More than $2.2 trillion of AUM balances, up 16% for the quarter.
• Some 21,300 net new client relationships in the wealth unit last year.
• Because of increased asset-management fees, the unit’s total revenue topped $6.6 billion.

Meanwhile, the asset and wealth management unit at JPMorgan performed strongly, with assets under management climbing 18% year over year and revenue topping $6.5 billion. Lower-than-expected investment banking fees, however, were due to deals that didn’t end up happening last quarter. “IB fees were down 5% year-on-year, reflecting a strong prior year… and the timing of some deals that were pushed to 2026,” Chief Financial Officer Jeremy Barnum said on the company’s earnings call.

Spreading the Wealth(front). Wealthfront also released its first earnings report this week that showed some slowing in asset flows last month, leading its stock to tumble 14%. Still, its net income for the quarter was $30.9 million, up 3% year over year.

The coming year may be an inflection point for retirement planning.

The US population is aging rapidly, with the share of Americans aged 65 and older projected to climb steadily over the coming decades. Traditional pensions aren’t making a comeback either (quite the opposite), but the good news is that there is a new generation of asset classes that may help provide some of the retirement security that savers had enjoyed during the pension era, according to the latest report from the annuity and retirement services provider Athene. New strategies in private assets could also help advisors guide clients toward better retirement outcomes.

“A financial advisor can really shine by not letting go of the upside opportunity that their customers have, but providing a lot of protection at the same time,” said Mike Downing, an author of the report and Athene’s co-president. “Retirement savers have been saving, but not quite enough.”

Demographics Meet Market Risk

Two main risks loom large for retirees heading into 2026, according to the Athene report. The first is market concentration: With a handful of mega-cap technology stocks accounting for more than a third of the S&P 500’s value, an AI-driven equity correction would ripple quickly through portfolios that are already strongly linked to the index. The second risk is inflation. Whether driven by policy shifts or interest rate changes, shrinking purchasing power would hit retirees hardest, given their reliance on fixed or semi-fixed income streams. “Interest rates have been pretty volatile. There’s no clear path going forward,” Downing told Advisor Upside. “And there’s 12,000 new [retirees] coming in, reaching age 65, every day.”

The timing is ominous, with many prospective retirees not well prepared. According to the report:

• There is a $4 trillion “savings gap” between what Americans in the aggregate should have saved for retirement and what they currently have saved.
• Less than 10% of Americans’ overall wealth comes from pensions, on average.

The Growing Role of Private Assets. Private equity and private credit are also now being integrated into retirees’ plans. US pensions already hold 25% or more of assets in private markets, according to the study, but for everyday retirement savers, exposure has historically been near zero. That gap is narrowing as platforms evolve, Downing added.

“Other tools that were available at very high net worth [levels]… there’s been this kind of democratization of those, looking for ways to make those more accessible for savers by creating different products that can be utilized by more day-to-day investors,” Downing said. “So not just the ultra high net worth, but mass affluent investors, as well.”

Dan Galli wasn’t always a financial advisor, but his first career has a lot in common with where he would wind up eventually.

Starting in the 1970s, he taught elementary school for 11 years. However, at the time, districts across the country were closing schools due to falling enrollment and cost-cutting, leaving plenty of teachers without work. Seeing a slim opportunity to move up in the educational world, Galli made a career change. On the surface, the jump from education to financial services seems massive. Galli, founder of Daniel J. Galli & Associates, even admitted, “If I had known then what I do now, I don’t know if I would’ve done it. Ignorance is bliss.”

But the teaching mindset of making complicated topics understandable is what drives his work as an advisor. Clients are happier and more confident when their complex needs are communicated in the simplest of ways, he told Advisor Upside. “We always say to clients, ‘We’re going to talk about this in a way that you can go home and explain it to your 12-year-old.’”

Galli began his tenure as president of the Financial Planning Association earlier this month. Advisor Upside sat down with him to discuss his priorities, the biggest hurdles facing advisors and clients and how he’s seeing the industry change.

Read more.