Nearly Half of Plan Participants Would Invest in Private Assets: Schroders 

Retirement plan participants are increasingly interested in investing in private assets and say they would increase their contributions if they gained access to them, according to Schroders’ 2025 U.S. Retirement Survey.,  

Across 401(k), 403(b)and 457(b) retirement account participants, 45% say they would invest in private assets, up from 36% in 2024. Though most did not expect to have access to the investments soon, 77% said they would increase their contributions if they could invest in alternatives. 

President Donald Trump signed an executive order earlier this month that directed agencies like the Department of Labor to provide guidance for plan sponsors considering adding alternative investments to their menu. According to the 2025 PLANSPONSOR DC Plan Benchmarking Report, about 4% of plan sponsors offer alternative assets in their plans, but industry insiders expect the executive order to encourage more plan sponsors to include the investments in their plans’ investment lineups. 

“For decades, traditional pension plan portfolios have mixed public and private investments in the same portfolio to meet their obligations to retirees,” said Deb Boyden, head of U.S. defined contribution at Schroders, in a statement. “On the heels of the recent executive order directing the Labor Department to consider improving access to alternative assets for defined-contribution retirement plan participants, a wider range of employees may soon be able to combine the benefits of both asset classes to better prepare for retirement.”  

According to Schroders’ survey, a majority of respondents said that private assets could enhance portfolio diversification, and 87% said that they would allocate anywhere from less than 10% to 15% of their retirement assets in alternatives.  

Still, 53% said that private assets were risky, and only 12% said they were knowledgeable about the investment class.  

“From the decision makers who are going to put these investments onto the platform and let their participants pick and choose them, and the 401(k) participant, everybody’s going to need a whole lot more education about this,” says Ed Renn, counsel in the private client and tax team at international law firm Withers. “In some respects, you just scratch your head and say, ‘can you really teach participants enough to make an intelligent decision in this space?’” 

The survey included responses from 1,500 investors aged 29-79, with 602 currently participating in a retirement plan. The responses were collected between March 25 and April 17.  

Though the DOL has acted swiftly since the executive order by rescinding Biden-era guidance, sources say it is unlikely that plan sponsors will commit to offering alternative assets in their retirement plans without further guidance from regulators. Even then, many industry insiders expect a modest increase in adoption in the near term. 

“If I’m a plan sponsor, and I have that guidance from the regulator in my hand, that’ll give me more confidence to add these investments to my plan” says Robert Sichel, partner at K&L Gates. “Without that guidance, I’m afraid of my own shadow.”