The wealth-building power of the American retirement system is undeniable, but the user experience often leaves much to be desired. For the average worker, navigating the path to retirement—even in the early planning and saving stages—can feel like driving through an obstacle course blindfolded.

The core issue? The system was not built for seamless financial planning.

The hurdles to holistic planning

Holistic planning involves not just one account, but all of a household’s finances. After all, money is fungible, so one financial decision impacts others. 

Unfortunately, America’s workplace retirement system contains structural barriers to holistic planning. Here are the four primary hurdles workplace retirement participants face:

1. You don’t choose your provider 

Unlike a checking account or a retail brokerage, with a workplace plan you don't choose your custodian or recordkeeper; your employer does. This means the user interface, available tools, and underlying technology available through the plan are entirely out of the participant's control. Some recordkeepers provide planning tools, others don’t. Some offer advice, others don’t. These design choices are made by your employer, not you. 

The result: retirement savers are often left navigating complex investment decisions on their own, within constraints they didn’t choose and can’t control.

2. The 401(k) portability problem

The modern workforce is highly mobile, but retirement accounts are not. When employees change jobs, their 401(k)s often get left behind, leading to a tangled web of legacy accounts.

Today, an estimated 31.9 million 401(k)s have been forgotten or left inactive, leaving assets completely disconnected from the account holder’s financial plan.

3. Fragmented financial pictures

Because money is held in different buckets across multiple past employers, it’s difficult for individuals and their advisors to see a holistic view of their net worth or manage their asset allocation comprehensively.

That lack of visibility makes it harder to manage risk, rebalance effectively, or ensure that a portfolio reflects a saver’s goals. Advice becomes partial instead of holistic—and important decisions get made without full context.

4. Opaque funds and fees

Workplace plans often utilize complex institutional share classes, collective investment trusts (CITs), or proprietary funds. Deciphering the exact fee structures or understanding the underlying risk in these funds can be nearly impossible for the layperson.

This lack of transparency makes it difficult for retirement savers to evaluate performance, compare options, or confidently make decisions. Without a clear understanding of what they own, even well-intentioned decisions can lead to misaligned risk, unexpected costs, or missed opportunities to optimize their portfolio.

The takeaway

The challenges that retirement savers face point to a gap between how the system is structured and how people actually plan for retirement. 

As former DOL regulator Lisa Gomez stated in Wealth Management: 

“The defined contribution system depends on clarity of roles. Participants are responsible for directing their investments. Plan fiduciaries are responsible for prudently selecting and monitoring service providers. Independent financial advisors are responsible for the advice they give their clients. When those roles remain clear, the system works as intended.”

Technology has evolved to support participants navigating the hurdles to holistic retirement planning. At Pontera, we invest in securely bridging these gaps, empowering advisors to securely manage and optimize these disparate accounts so participants can finally get the comprehensive financial plan they deserve.

Pontera is thrilled to partner with The Aspen Institute to define the Future of Retirement Advice. With Aspen, Pontera has sponsored a series of panels and roundtables with dozens of policymakers and industry leaders shaping the future of America’s retirement system.

We’re thrilled to share learnings from these events with a broader audience. The time is now to update America’s retirement system so that advice is available to all.

Explore more in this series:

• The future of retirement advice: Key takeaways from the 2025 Workers’ Wealth Lab

• Updating the 401(k) advice paradigm