Trump’s bill allowing non-securities-based investments like Crypto, Private Equity, and Real Estate, was enabled by the Gateway Drug – Annuities and the way they have decimated, especially smaller retirement plans.    Does this Executive Order overturn hundreds of years of fiduciary legal protections?   Probably not, but it erodes it and exposes millions of Americans to unnecessary risk and losses in their retirements.

The law protecting 401ks ERISA is based on fiduciary law, which in general, bans one-sided contracts.  The DOL has never enforced this law in the 800,000 401k plans with annuities.   The only check has been in litigation, which really only looks at the top 1%, the 8000 largest plans over $100 million in assets. 

The Annuity playbook is to minimize federal regulation, and cherry-pick weak state regulators who have little or no transparency so they can maximize hidden fees and profits.  I testified to the DOL Advisory Committee in July 2024, warning about the use of weak state-regulated Collective Investment Trusts (CITS). https://commonsense401kproject.com/2024/07/31/chris-tobe-dol-testimony/  

 SEC-registered Mutual funds have too much transparency, which is why Annuities, Crypto, and Private Equity will look to other vehicles. 

Products like Private Equity will probably be hidden in Target Date Funds, mixed with real securities.  https://commonsense401kproject.com/2025/07/05/860/

I have written why they should not be used at https://commonsense401kproject.com/2025/07/03/crypto-is-erisa-prohibited-transaction-chatgpt-do-not-use-in-401k/   and https://commonsense401kproject.com/2025/07/02/private-equity-is-a-prohibited-transaction-via-chat-gpt/

For risk, but they are also impossible to benchmark https://commonsense401kproject.com/2024/11/29/crypto-private-equity-annuity-contracts-are-impossible-to-benchmark/

Trump selling out retirees to enrich Wall Street and the Crypto industry is not a shock.  Hopefully, the majority of responsible plans will not fall for the sales pitch