In an executive order dated August 7, 2025, President Trump called for a reexamination of regulations and guidance for retirement plans. Trump asked regulators to encourage retirement plan administrators to include risky options like alternative assets (or “alts”) in 401(k) and similar retirement plans. Alternative assets could be funds invested in private equity and cryptocurrencies, assets that lack strict regulation and whose value and risk can be hard to assess compared with other types of investments. Because of this, many consider alts to be unsuitable for retirement plans. Trump’s executive order listed direct and indirect interests in private market investments, real estate, digital assets, commodities, infrastructure, and longevity risk-sharing pools.

Currently there are no explicit bans on offering these types of investments in participant-directed retirement plans, but employers and advisers who serve as retirement plan fiduciaries can be sued for including inappropriately risky and costly assets among investment options. (Fiduciaries are required by law to act in the best interests of retirement plan participants.) Outside of retirement plans, marketing private equity and other largely unregulated alternative assets to small investors is mostly prohibited by securities laws, regulations, and agency guidance—though cryptocurrencies and other digital assets can be sold to anyone.

Whether due to fiduciaries’ litigation fear or common sense, alts like private equity have so far made little headway in the 401(k) space, though some major players began marketing managed funds with alternative asset components to 401(k) plan sponsors even before Trump issued his executive order.

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