There’s a lot we can’t predict, like the outcome of the midterm elections, who will make it to the Super Bowl or whether Taylor Swift was actually hinting at a new album release in that Emmy’s sketch. But when it comes to what our retirement looks like, we can certainly try.

Many retirement plans offer predictive tools that can help savers forecast their future balances, retirement readiness, income replacement rates and more. Participants, however, aren’t happy with the options: J.D. Power’s recent survey of digital experience satisfaction for retirement plans found that predictive tools were the lowest-performing attribute.

“The technology in the 401(k) is seriously behind what people are used to in their consumer life,” said Fred Barstein, CEO of The Retirement Advisor University. When the underlying technology structure is old and cumbersome, it’s hard for the tools to be as effective as they could be.

Where to Improve

Interest in the retirement projection tool, which you’ll typically see displayed when you log into your retirement account, has grown over the past five to six years, said Madeleine Gannon, senior research associate at Corporate Insight.

“That’s really understandable when we consider how uncertain the markets have been, how high inflation has become, rising medical costs, and the increase in Americans who are becoming caregivers or who live in a household that’s multi-generational where you might have student loans and a mortgage,” Gannon said.

But for most firms, predictive tools could be an area to improve, she added:

• Many focus on balance projections without emphasis on decumulation, so it’s hard for participants to plan how much money they should withdraw and when.
• A more personalized analysis taking into account factors such as part-time work, debt and caregiving costs would be one way to enhance such tools. The same goes for nuanced scenario modeling for different market conditions and financial events, such as paying for a large expense or receiving an inheritance, Gannon said.

Generally, these tools are the strongest when they’re used to pique someone’s interest, and then engage them with a human, such as an advisor, Barstein said. “The technology is very important, but if you just leave it to the user to find it, know how to use it and trust it, that’s where the problem is.”

No Planning in a Vacuum. More firms are also leaning toward a holistic approach to financial planning and retirement. For instance, Gannon’s firm is seeing account aggregation such as the option to link your bank accounts to your retirement plan become more popular. “Your outside finances, your outside goals and your outside obligations all impact your ability to save and how you save,” Gannon added.

Let’s just come right out and say it: It’s a good time to sell a registered investment advisor practice.

We’ve all read headlines about sky-high multiples and firm owners fielding multiple calls a day from potential suitors. It’s an environment where successful founders can generate tremendous value from selling their firms. The process isn’t simple, however, and there are pitfalls that owners can stumble into, potentially robbing them of hard-earned enterprise value.

Adam Lewis, partner at Vedder Price, talked through these dynamics this week during a standing-room only session at the Future Proof Festival in Huntington Beach, California. While he advises on M&A across multiple industries, the world of wealth management stands apart in 2026 as the “strongest by far” in terms of dealmaking activity. The entrance of private equity buyers in the RIA space has been particularly significant, with the heightened competition among buyers helping ramp up valuations. It’s a great environment for sellers who hope to monetize their life’s work to fund their retirement lifestyle and potentially create intergenerational wealth, Lewis said. But it’s important to be diligent and bring the right expertise to the table during the negotiation process.

Let’s Make a Plan

“I know it sounds self-serving, being an M&A attorney, but I can’t stress enough how important it is to come to the negotiating table fully prepared for what this process entails,” Lewis said. “The key to a successful outcome, especially for sellers, is to pre-plan and negotiate terms with your house in order.”

Every deal is unique, but there are principles that support good outcomes for sellers. One is understanding the roles of third parties that are likely to be involved in the process, Lewis said:

• An investment banker, for example, should be good at crunching the numbers and setting agreeable financial terms.
• A dedicated M&A attorney, on the other hand, can help an advisor negotiate the deal structure in a clear, actionable letter of intent.

“I would particularly stress the importance of deal structure and getting that right from the start,” Lewis said. “The tax consequences of how a deal is structured can be profound. The headline purchase price is only the beginning of the after-tax calculation.”

For the typical RIA, the overwhelming economic value generally is in client relationships and goodwill rather than hard assets changing hands. This can become a substantial negotiating issue, as are topics like cash consideration versus equity compensation.

Post-Sales Strategies. Most RIA deals involve earn-out provisions that help to align buyer and seller interests. “Everyone wants to focus on the multiple, but negotiating the terms of these earn-out agreements is critical,” Lewis said. “Setting reasonable growth standards is something I advise my clients to do, for example. You’ve sold the practice, yes, but it’s important to negotiate some control to make sure that you can hit the targets that are set, and they should be reasonable.”

A mind is a terrible thing to waste, but college is awfully expensive.

Depending on where someone goes to school, they can be left with a lot of debt — an albatross that can hang around their neck for decades. Among 401(k) plan participants in their 40s, those with student loan debt had median retirement account balances roughly 45% lower than those without, according to a new report from the Employee Benefit Research Institute.

The best option is to figure out scholarships, financial aid, debt timelines and what school makes financial sense before going to college. But that’s not reality for many clients, leaving advisors to help fit student debt into a financial plan that balances both loans and savings. “The biggest mistake I see is treating student loans as an all-or-nothing problem,” said Corinna Rose, a CFP with Bell Investment Advisors. “Many borrowers think they need to eliminate every dollar of debt before they can start investing.”

Don’t Know Much About History

The average student loan debt is more than $43,000, according to the Education Data Initiative. But Ryan Galiotto, founder of Etch Financial, said his clients with student debt owe more than twice that on average. Part of that is a result of the federal Grad PLUS Loan program, which began in 2006 and allowed graduate and professional students to borrow up to the full cost of attendance, minus other financial aid. The program was eliminated for new borrowers in July. “For a long time, it has been very easy to take out student loans,” Galiotto said. “The borrowing system had been broken for many years.”

When clients come to him with significant student debt disrupting their retirement savings, Galiotto first looks for potential relief, including Public Service Loan Forgiveness for government and nonprofit employees.

There may be another option, though:

• Workers could benefit from programs for employers to make 401(k) matching contributions based on employees’ student loan payments, even if they aren’t contributing to their retirement plans.
• Universal adoption of that could generate up to $20.2 billion in annual 401(k) matching contributions, depending on the maximum employer match, per EBRI’s estimates.

Freshman Class. When clients and their children are considering colleges, Galiotto said it’s important not to focus solely on sticker price. A private school may offer more financial aid than a cheaper public university, for example. He also encourages parents to negotiate for more aid when multiple schools are competing for their children. “You can pit offers against each other to help your kids secure a better deal,” he said.