Unlock More of Your Clients’ Retirement Assets with AssetMark’s Self-Directed Brokerage Accounts (SDBAs)

Key Takeaways

For the average investor, retirement accounts represent roughly a third of total wealth — and most of it goes unadvised.
AssetMark’s mutual fund–only SDBA removes the fee, and operational friction that kept advisors out — while expanding the number of plans they collect fees on.
SDBAs meet a common client request — and grow share of wallet from clients you already serve.

Today’s investors expect more from their retirement portfolios. They want professional guidance, personalized strategies, and a financial advisor who sees the full picture, including assets held inside an employer plan. For the average investor, retirement accounts represent a significant share of total wealth, yet many of those dollars go unadvised. According to Schwab, nearly three-quarters of 401(k) savers want personalized investment advice for managing their workplace savings, yet only 27% feel confident making those decisions on their own. That gap between what investors want and what they feel equipped to do represents a meaningful opportunity for advisors.

Self-Directed Brokerage Accounts (SDBAs) are one way to close that gap. When incorporated into an overall practice, SDBAs allow advisors to manage assets inside employer-sponsored plans without requiring a rollover. Recent ICI data shows retirement assets account for roughly one-third of all U.S. household financial assets, underscoring just how central these accounts are to clients’ long-term outcomes. According to ICI’s Q4 2025 data, total defined contribution plan assets reached $14.2 trillion — a significant pool of opportunity that many advisors are not yet positioned to manage.

What Is an SDBA, and Why It Matters

An SDBA is a brokerage window inside an employer-sponsored plan, such as a 401(k), 403(b), or 457, that lets participants invest beyond the plan’s standard menu. Historically, most SDBAs provided broad access to individual securities and ETFs, but that breadth came with real challenges: operational friction, difficulty pulling advisory fees, and a limited number of plans on which advisors could actually collect fees on. The result was a large pool of retirement assets that advisors could see but could not effectively manage.

AssetMark’s enhanced SDBA addresses those barriers directly. Built around mutual fund model strategies designed for in-plan retirement accounts, the solution simplifies fee billing, expands the number of compatible employer plans, and brings more participants within reach of professional management, all without requiring a rollover or any changes to the existing plan. Advisors can implement and monitor diversified model portfolios across a range of investor objectives, fully integrated within AssetMark’s existing platform and workflows.

As AssetMark CEO Michael Kim put it: “As advisors look to provide more holistic financial guidance, the ability to manage clients’ retirement accounts is a critical component. Our SDBA solution helps empower advisors to meet that need seamlessly and at scale.”

Why Advisors Are Taking Notice

Many clients are looking for their advisor to be their personal CFO and manage every aspect of their financial life, but until now, the biggest asset for many clients – their employer-sponsored retirement plan – has remained out of reach. SDBAs can help empower advisors to deliver the personalized and holistic advice clients need, all within the client’s existing retirement plan.

On the plan side, brokerage windows are broadly available but underutilized. PSCA’s most recent data indicates nearly 40% of large employer-sponsored plans now provide a brokerage window, yet Alight’s recordkeeping data shows only about 2.4% of eligible participants are actually using one. The gap between availability and adoption points directly to an advisor opportunity.

That opportunity is real and largely untapped. AssetMark’s own advisor research from the 2026 Gold Forum found that roughly a third of surveyed advisors already manage SDBA accounts, with a concentrated subset tracking significant assets under management. That same research indicated that many advisors with existing SDBA relationships are working with assets held outside AssetMark. This suggests meaningful room to consolidate and scale those relationships on a single platform. Schwab’s SDBA Indicators report adds further context: the average self-directed 401(k) account balance reached $362,302 in Q2 2025, with advised accounts carrying higher averages than non-advised ones. Participants who work with an advisor are more engaged and better positioned to benefit from broader investment options. By helping participants understand and navigate SDBAs, advisors can deepen relationships, demonstrate value, and help clients make more informed decisions.

SDBA: Expand Share of Wallet without Expanding Your Client Base

Many clients want their advisor to manage every aspect of their financial life, including assets inside an employer plan. AssetMark’s SDBA makes that possible. Because the solution is built around mutual fund models, fee billing is cleaner, the number of plans advisors can collect fees on expands, and the operational lift is lower. That means advisors can meet a common client request while also growing share of wallet from clients they already serve. Combined with retirement assets representing roughly one-third of all U.S. household financial assets, the share-of-wallet case is compelling: advisors who manage both taxable and retirement assets for a client are better positioned to deliver truly holistic advice and demonstrate the value of a consolidated relationship.

What Sets AssetMark’s SDBA Apart

While many platforms provide SDBA access, AssetMark’s solution is built for advisors:

Advisor-directed control: You drive the strategy and oversight while your clients benefit from professional management.
Mutual fund model strategies: Diversified model portfolios designed specifically for in-plan retirement accounts simplify fee billing, expand plan compatibility, and broaden access to eligible plans.
Integrated platform access: Manage SDBA assets alongside other accounts in the AssetMark Advisor Platform.
Dedicated advisor support. AssetMark provides implementation guidance and resources so you can scale confidently.

If you are looking to:

Expand AUM without expanding your client base
Provide more personalized, retirement-aware strategies
Stand out and add more value in a crowded advisor marketplace

AssetMark’s SDBA can be a valuable addition to your practice. Learn more about how this solution can help you turn previously inaccessible plan assets into a tailored, more integrated part of your client strategy.

8868869.1 | 04/2026 | EXP 04/30/2028