The Investment Company Institute's quarterly data, released September 17, put total US retirement assets at $51.2 trillion as of June 30, 2026 — up 7.9% in a single quarter, and 33% of all US household financial assets. The line worth reading twice is the breakdown. IRAs held $19.9 trillion, up 9.2% from Q1. All defined contribution plans together held $15.0 trillion, with 401(k) plans specifically at $10.8 trillion.
IRAs now hold roughly twice what 401(k) plans hold. Most of that gap was not built by $7,500 annual contributions. It was built by rollovers — and the federal standard governing the recommendation to roll over changed in March.
What Actually Happened in March
The Labor Department's 2024 Retirement Security Rule would have made a single rollover recommendation fiduciary advice under ERISA. It never took effect. Two Texas district courts stayed it in July 2024, the Fifth Circuit dismissed the consolidated appeal on November 28, 2025, and final judgments landed March 12, 2026 in the Eastern District of Texas and March 17, 2026 in the Northern District of Texas.
DOL published the notice of court vacatur at 91 FR 13503 on March 20, 2026, effective April 20. Its own framing is precise: because the 2024 rule never became effective, the five-part test regulation from 1975 — 40 FR 50842 — "was never replaced." The notice was a technical amendment conforming the CFR to reality.
Widely circulated secondary coverage dates the vacatur to March 30, 2026. The Federal Register record says March 12 and March 17.
The Prong That Decides Everything
Under the restored 1975 regulation, someone is an ERISA investment advice fiduciary only if all five elements are met: the advice concerns investments, is given on a regular basis, arises from a mutual agreement or understanding, is intended as a primary basis for investment decisions, and is individualized to the investor.
"Regular basis" is the prong that matters at the moment of a rollover. A one-time recommendation to move plan assets into an IRA generally does not satisfy it. The vacatur also swept away the interpretive gloss DOL had built around this — portions of the PTE 2020-02 preamble addressing rollover advice, and the policy in 2021 FAQ 7, which a Florida district court vacated back in February 2023.
What Still Constrains the Recommendation
Three things survive, and none of them is the ERISA fiduciary standard.
PTE 2020-02 remains in force as originally adopted on December 18, 2020 — the Federal Register notice republished its operative text in full. But an exemption from prohibited-transaction rules only bites on someone who is already a fiduciary. It does not create fiduciary status.
SEC Regulation Best Interest still applies to broker-dealers. The SEC's March 30, 2022 staff bulletin is explicit that recommending a rollover from a workplace plan to an IRA is a covered account recommendation: the professional "must have a reasonable basis to believe both that the rollover itself and that the account being recommended are in the retail investor's best interest."
The gap is products that aren't securities. Reg BI reaches broker-dealers and investment advisers. An insurance-licensed agent recommending a fixed annuity outside SEC jurisdiction is governed by state suitability and best-interest laws instead — a patchwork, not one federal standard.
Practical Takeaways
- Ask, in writing: "Are you acting as a fiduciary on this rollover recommendation, and under which standard?" Post-vacatur, the honest answer is often no for a one-time recommendation. A written answer costs nothing to request.
- Use the SEC's own factor list as your checklist. The staff bulletin names costs, level of services available, features of the existing account, available investment options, ability to take penalty-free withdrawals, application of RMDs, protection from creditors and legal judgments, and holdings of employer stock.
- Get your plan's all-in cost before you compare. Large plans often access institutional share classes priced below retail equivalents. That comparison requires your actual plan fee disclosure, not a generic average.
- Staying in the plan is a live option, not a default failure. Leaving assets in a former employer's plan preserves ERISA fiduciary oversight of the menu — protection that does not travel with the money into an IRA.
- Nothing was taken away that you already had. The 2024 rule never governed a single rollover. The standard today is the standard that applied through 2024 and 2025.
Sources: Investment Company Institute — Quarterly Retirement Market Data, Second Quarter 2026 (released September 17, 2026); Federal Register, 91 FR 13503 — Retirement Security Rule: Definition of an Investment Advice Fiduciary: Notice of Court Vacatur (March 20, 2026); SEC Staff Bulletin — Standards of Conduct for Broker-Dealers and Investment Advisers: Account Recommendations for Retail Investors (March 30, 2022); CAPTRUST — ERISA Fiduciary Advice After Vacated 2024 Retirement Security Rule; Jackson Lewis ERISA Litigation & Compliance — The Fiduciary Rule Pendulum: What You Need to Know