At his Senate confirmation hearing this morning, Deputy Secretary of Labor Keith Sonderling spoke clearly about the importance of President Trump’s initiative to democratize access to alternative investments in 401(k) retirement savings plans:
“We’re working very hard at the Department of Labor to make sure that 401(k) plans have access to alternative investments, just like union pensions do, just like state pensions do.
“Right now, the 401(k) market is largely in index funds, and those workers deserve private assets – they deserve diversification, just like somebody with a pension plan. So this is one of my top initiatives to make sure that there’s parity now between the pension system and the 401(k) system to be able to diversify – for individuals, you know, who just have a 401(k) to get into those private markets that were previously only for accredited investors.
“This is how President Trump is going to make America wealthy again … to democratize that access, allow everyone these opportunities outside of just very conservative index funds. And at the Department, we don’t push one fund over the other. We lay the neutral framework and let the employers decide under their fiduciary obligations, which is the best for their employees.”
Watch his full statement here:
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