New Retirement Bill Mandates Projected Balance Graphs for Brokerage Window Investors Starting 2026

If you’re one of the millions of people who invests in their 401(k) or other defined contribution plan, you know the drill: pick from a list of mutual funds the plan administrator has pre-vetted. But maybe your plan offers a “brokerage window”—a side door that lets you invest in basically anything else, from individual stocks to more exotic funds. This new legislation, the Providing Complete Information to Retirement Investors Act, focuses squarely on that brokerage window, aiming to make those self-directed choices a lot more transparent.

The Fine Print on Freedom Investing

Starting January 1, 2026, this bill amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to create a new hurdle for participants using those brokerage windows. Currently, if you use a brokerage window, you’re generally considered to be exercising “control” over your assets, which shields the plan fiduciary from liability for your choices. This bill says you won’t be considered to be exercising that control unless you first receive and acknowledge a specific notice before you direct an investment into, out of, or within any non-designated investment option.

In essence, before you go off-roading with your retirement cash, the plan has to make sure you’ve signed a digital form saying you understand the risks. This is a clear move to increase participant awareness, but it also creates a new administrative step for the millions of people who use these self-directed accounts. For busy folks, this new mandatory acknowledgement process could feel like just another piece of digital paperwork to click through.

The Mandatory Crystal Ball

The most interesting part of the required notice is the projected retirement balance graph. The bill mandates that the notice must include a graph showing what your retirement balance might look like at age 67. This isn’t just a simple estimate, though. The projection must be displayed based on three different, specific assumed annual rates of return: 4 percent, 6 percent, and 8 percent.

Why three numbers? It’s a smart way to visualize risk. If your investments only hit 4% over the next few decades, your retirement pot looks significantly different than if they hit 8%. For someone who has only ever seen their current balance, this standardized graph provides a powerful, if assumed, visualization of what’s at stake. It’s designed to make people pause and think about the long game before making a risky, self-directed investment.

Drawing Lines in the Sand

This Act also formally defines what a “designated investment alternative” is—basically, the core funds the plan fiduciary has specifically chosen and vetted. Crucially, the bill explicitly states that a “designated investment alternative” excludes brokerage windows, self-directed brokerage accounts, or similar arrangements.

This formal exclusion clarifies a long-standing gray area in retirement law. While it’s helpful for plan fiduciaries to know exactly where their formal responsibility ends, it also underscores the fact that when you use that brokerage window, you are truly on your own. For plan administrators, this means a new compliance track and potentially higher administrative costs to implement the new notice and acknowledgement systems. While the intent is to protect participants by informing them, the administrative burden on the plans that offer this investment flexibility could be significant, all taking effect on January 1, 2026.