Once seen primarily as an accumulation tool, managed accounts and personalized solutions are evolving into ways for retirement plan participants to establish streams of income for retirement.
Participant-level managed accounts within defined contribution plans are often described as a personalized investment service within a workplace retirement plan.
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Unlike target-date funds, which assign a glide path based largely on age, managed accounts use a broader set of participant-specific inputs, such as savings rates, salary, risk tolerance and outside assets.
“Managed accounts are more than an investment product,” says Neil Gilfedder, chief investment officer at Edelman Financial Engines. “In retirement, if you decide to take a pot of money and turn it into a stream of income, you ideally should stop caring about the return of that overall portfolio. What you should care about is how much income it can generate and how sustainable that income is over time—and this is a hard thing for people to get their head around.”
The Power of Personalization
Personalization can occur at multiple levels. At the plan level, sponsors may implement customized defaults similar to target-date strategies designed around workforce demographics. At the participant level, managed accounts deliver individualized advice, and allocations based on a participant’s unique financial situation.
“Retirement is much harder to solve with a one-size-fits-all approach—people’s needs and income sources are highly individual,” says Tamiko Toland, founder and CEO of 401(k) Annuity Hub. “People may not even know how to translate their savings into income—and personalization helps give them confidence that the strategy fits their goals.”
In practice, managed accounts serve as the primary vehicle for delivering personalization. Participant data are gathered, then used for portfolio decisions such as asset allocation to achieve the appropriate level of guaranteed income exposure.
Increasingly, managed accounts are being paired with in-plan lifetime income solutions. In these cases, the managed account determines not only whether a participant should allocate to a guaranteed income product, but how much and when, based on factors such as age, savings levels and other income sources.
Allianz has ‘my total retirement,’ a managed account service, that is available only through Empower and integrates advice that would include guidance about how much a participant can annuitize or dedicate to retirement income, depending on their needs.
“It will look at that participant’s specific situation and say, ‘oh, you are this age, you need this amount of your total retirement savings to be in this solution, and then it will look at that periodically over time and make changes to that,” says Matt Gray, head of employer markets at Allianz Life, which provides products that may be selected within managed accounts.
That personalization is critical, as the “right” allocation can vary significantly between individuals, even those of the same age, depending on Social Security expectations, outside assets and risk preferences.
“You could have two 55-year-old males that are contributing to a plan, and they could have different percents allocated to our solution based on what their needs are. One [participant] might have more of a need for guaranteed income, and so that [managed account] service will put more into it [the guaranteed income] than maybe for the other participant,” says Gray.
Unlike systematic withdrawal strategies, which rely on static rules and do not guarantee income, managed accounts can dynamically adjust withdrawals based on market conditions and participant behavior. Unlike annuities, which provide guaranteed payouts but are typically implemented with a stand-alone, one-time decision, managed accounts can take a more holistic approach.
“It can take pressure off the rest of the investments in that participant plan, and those other investments can be left to grow and provide flexibility for a legacy in the future to leave to heirs or for more flexible income needs,” says Gray.
Managed accounts can benefit participants at any stage, but their value tends to increase as retirement approaches, particularly for those in their 50s and 60s who are transitioning from accumulation to income planning.
“It works at any age, [but] when you start to get into the retirement red zone, then people start paying attention,” says Timothy Pitney, head of lifetime income distribution at TIAA, which launched a managed account solution in 2018. “They’re looking for more personalization.”
The Importance of Communication
Once participants have selected managed accounts, Gilfedder says they tend to prioritize easy access to one-to-one advice.
“We found that 96% of our client base values the ability to call up one of our advisers, so we have an adviser line there,” Gilfedder says. “These calls span all sorts of things that can be financial and even peripheral to retirement.”
Clear communication is critical for advisers, since aspects of the accounts can vary for sponsors and participants.
“One of the first things advisers should be clear on is fees. … There’s a range of advisory fees with managed accounts,” says Chris Stickrod, TIAA’s executive vice president and head of retirement product.
Advisers should also be sure to describe the role of managed accounts within a plan lineup to clients, which are seen as complementary to other investment options. They can serve as a central coordinating mechanism integrating traditional investments, guaranteed income products and withdrawal strategies into a cohesive plan tailored to each participant.
“I think when you look at a lot of other workplace managed accounts, they [plan sponsors] think of them primarily as just accumulation cycles for participants,” says Stickrod. “We [at TIAA] use it as not only accumulation, but also the decumulation side as well, and we have advice that wraps around that, that helps with: ‘How does the guaranteed income asset class fit within the model portfolio?’”
Market Share of Managed Accounts
The ability to cater to clients’ unique needs has fueled growth in the managed account market. According to a preview of Cerulli’s 2026 report, total managed account assets at year-end 2025 were $16.3 trillion, up from $13.7 trillion in 2024.
Edelman is expected to be this year’s largest provider of managed accounts for retirement plans, according to Cerulli. As of the first quarter of 2026, Edelman confirmed $248 billion in assets in more than 1 million accounts.
The largest provider of managed accounts within wealth management, Morgan Stanley, had $2.7 trillion in assets as of year-end 2025, according to Cerulli.
