Trending
RIA firms are sitting on a massive, largely untapped opportunity in their clients’ workplace retirement plans—and most do not even realize it. Brenden Gebben, CEO of Absolute Capital Management, argues that the industry is only beginning to understand how to manage defined contribution assets compliantly, efficiently, and at scale, without becoming the plan advisor or relying on risky “backdoor” access. In a conversation at the 2025 Charles Schwab IMPACT Conference in Denver, he outlined how Absolute Capital’s Workplace Investment Navigator helps RIAs finally bring these held-away 401(k), 403(b), and 457 assets into the core of the planning relationship.
The myth: “I can’t touch workplace assets”
According to Gebben, the single biggest misconception in the RIA community is that workplace retirement accounts are essentially off-limits until rollover. “I would say that probably 98% of planners don't even know that they could help their clients with their workplace account until they roll and retire,” he explains, noting that this blind spot leaves clients’ largest assets unmanaged during their peak accumulation years.
The impact is twofold. First, clients miss out on coordinated, professional management of what is often their biggest investment account. Second, advisors lose the chance to deepen relationships, demonstrate value in real time, and grow assets under management long before retirement. Gebben’s view is clear: RIAs should not wait for the rollover—they should be looking for compliant, direct ways to manage those assets where they sit today.
The compliance trap of “ghost” access
For many advisors, the only perceived path to helping with a 401(k) has been to log in using the client’s credentials—a practice Gebben sees as both risky and increasingly unsustainable. He calls this “backdoor access” or “ghost advisor access,” describing it as a situation where “someone’s using a client credential to go into the client account,” with no audit trail at the custodian, recordkeeper, or plan level.
“As soon as a trade is made, they’re going to assume it’s the client who made the trade,” Gebben notes, pointing out the downstream implications if something goes wrong. With large custodians and recordkeepers explicitly tightening policies around client impersonation and third-party access, he warns that “if you’re an advisor who’s using that path, that could be very choppy because you had access to your client, now you don’t—and the client’s left wondering why you can’t get into their account anymore.” In other words, the old workaround is becoming not only noncompliant, but also a reputational risk.
Why “front door access” changes the game
Absolute Capital’s philosophy is that the only sustainable approach is what Gebben calls “front door access”—where the firm is formally named on the account and recognized by all parties. “That way,” he explained, “the plan, the custodian, the client, the planner—everyone knows Absolute Capital is in the account.”
This is implemented through contracts and custodian or recordkeeper forms that formally authorize Absolute Capital’s role, creating a clean audit trail and clear responsibility. If a trade needs to be made or information accessed, it is done as Absolute Capital—not as a client impersonating themselves on a login screen. For RIAs, that means risk is shifted away from informal, credential-based access and toward a regulated, documented, and institutionally supported process.
No client credentials: a core design choice
A critical decision in building Absolute Capital’s Workplace Investment Navigator was to avoid any dependence on client credentials from the start. “We spent a lot of time thinking through this before having the Workplace Investment Navigator, because what we didn’t want to do was to have client credentials,” Gebben explains. “We wanted to be able to pipe directly into the client account.”
Because Absolute Capital is an RIA, it can establish custodial agreements with major providers such as Schwab, Fidelity, and Security Benefit, among others. “If the plan allows it, we can pipe directly into that account without client credentials,” Gebben notes, emphasizing that the structure honors plan documents, custodial rules, and regulatory expectations. For advisors, that means a path to managing workplace assets that is operationally clean, regulator-friendly, and durable as policies evolve.
Turning 401(k)s into TAMP-powered portfolios
Gebben describes Absolute Capital’s approach as effectively “TAMP-ifying” workplace retirement accounts. When Absolute Capital launched its solution, the team asked a simple question: what would a truly advisor-friendly 401(k) management platform look like if it hit “all the bells and whistles” advisors expect in the rest of their practice?
Several design choices stand out:
-
No client credentials and true front-door access, as noted above.
-
The ability to deduct advisory fees directly from the workplace account, whether a client works for a state 457 plan or a large employer like Apple.
-
Centralized trading: advisors select models, and Absolute Capital’s platform handles all trading in the account.
“For a lot of people, their biggest asset is in that workplace plan, and having to write a separate check for fees can be tough,” Gebben says, emphasizing that fee debiting from the account makes the solution more practical and scalable. At the same time, automating trading off of selected models frees the advisor from manually logging in, rebalancing, and reconciling across dozens or hundreds of client plans.
Beyond the core fund menu
One of the most powerful differentiators Gebben highlights is the ability to move past the narrow investment lineup typical of most workplace plans. In a standard 401(k), a participant might see a couple dozen choices—a large-cap fund, a bond fund, a money market, and a set of target-date funds. “We’re able to go beyond that core menu,” he explains. “The client still has the same statement, the same login, they still see their account—but with our recordkeepers, we’re able to go beyond that.”
Through Absolute Capital’s relationships and platform architecture, advisors and clients can choose from approximately 350 to 375 models and managers. Multiple managers can be combined into sleeves—for example, 50% American Funds, 30% a Vanguard ETF model, and 20% an active equity manager—turning a once-limited 401(k) into a multi-manager, institutionally managed solution. As Gebben puts it, “It does what I call ‘TAMP-ifies’ the account,” giving advisors flexibility similar to what they enjoy in taxable and IRA accounts.
Embedded risk profiling and model construction
Risk alignment is built into the platform. Clients complete a risk questionnaire and receive a score, and as various models and allocations are combined, the platform calculates an overall risk score for the portfolio. Advisors can see how a proposed blend of sleeves aligns with the client’s tolerance and goals, and adjust as needed before implementation.
This integrated risk scoring allows advisors to use workplace accounts as a fully coordinated part of the household allocation, rather than a separate, unmanaged bucket. It also supports better client conversations: advisors can demonstrate how tuning the mix inside the 401(k) can bring the overall plan in line with the client’s risk profile, rather than relying solely on IRAs or taxable accounts.
From “held-away” to fully integrated
A major barrier for RIAs has been integrating workplace plan data into their broader tech stack. Absolute Capital tackles this by pulling transaction-level data from the underlying custodian—for example, a Schwab account housing a state 457 plan—and then retransmitting that data into the advisor’s portfolio accounting and reporting systems.
“If you think of a Black Diamond, an Orion, an Advyzon, we’re feeding data over there all the time,” Gebben explains. Advisors can also log into Absolute Capital’s own platform for account-level performance and details, but the real power is in seeing workplace assets alongside IRAs, brokerage accounts, and other holdings in a unified household view. That visibility supports more accurate planning, better risk management, and a clearer story for clients about their complete financial picture.
A practical growth playbook for RIAs
For advisors wondering where to start, Gebben’s guidance is straightforward: “Once they come aboard, we tell advisors: start by looking at your own book of business,” he says. “Let us know where your clients work, and we’ll let you know what the rules of the road are at that custodian.”
Not every plan allows third-party access, but the trend is moving in the right direction. Absolute Capital estimates that it can access roughly 55% of plan participants nationwide today, up from about 25% when Gebben began building the solution eight years ago. Advisors can also look outward—“peering over the fence,” as he puts it—to identify large local employers where this kind of solution could open doors with new prospects. For many couples, this is also a powerful engagement tool: the partner who “only has a 401(k)” and previously felt they didn’t qualify for advice can be brought meaningfully into the planning process.
Regulatory winds and the end of impersonation
Gebben believes the regulatory and industry winds are clearly blowing toward more formal, compliant structures for 401(k) management. On one side, client demand is obvious: people want help with their workplace plans and expect their advisor to include those assets in the plan. On the other, large custodians are increasingly explicit that client impersonation and credential sharing are not acceptable paths.
He points to emerging policies at firms like Fidelity and Schwab that seek to “shut that door” when they detect someone other than the client accessing an account using personal credentials. While some argue that “it’s the client’s data” and they should be able to share credentials with whomever they choose, Gebben notes that this framing often ignores the importance of the plan document. Each plan sponsor sets the “rules of the road,” and custodians are hired to enforce those rules—meaning advisors need solutions that work within that structure, not around it.
Helping where clients already are
One final misconception Gebben is eager to dispel is the idea that any 401(k) solution must be about selling a new plan. “Often when we’re talking to an advisor and we say we have a solution, right out of the gate they think we’re trying to sell them a plan,” he says. “We’re not trying to sell you a plan—we’re trying to help the client where they’re already at.”
For RIAs, that framing is crucial. Workplace Investment Navigator does not require advisors to become the plan advisor, take on plan-level fiduciary responsibilities, or restructure employer plans. Instead, it gives them a compliant, scalable way to manage the participant’s account in place, charge a reasonable fee, integrate it into their tech stack, and deliver better planning outcomes for households that previously felt “half-served.”
A call to action for forward-looking advisors
The next phase of advisory growth will not come solely from winning rollover IRAs; it will come from meeting clients where their money actually lives today. RIAs who embrace compliant, direct management of workplace retirement accounts can deepen relationships earlier, differentiate their value proposition, and expand AUM without changing their core business model or becoming plan advisors.
For advisors ready to move beyond myths, credential workarounds, and “held-away” frustration, Absolute Capital Management’s Workplace Investment Navigator offers a front-door, TAMP-powered solution that is built for where the industry—and regulation—is headed, not where it has been. To learn more about how Absolute Capital can help your firm manage clients’ 401(k), 403(b), and 457 assets more effectively and compliantly, visit Absolute Capital Management at https://www.abscap.com/.