Financial adviser talks about executive order on alternative investments for 401(k) investors

ALL RIGHT. THANKS, GUYS. WELL, TODAY WE’RE LEARNING MORE ABOUT AN EXECUTIVE ORDER. THE PRESIDENT SIGNED. IT IS CALLED DEMOCRATIZING ACCESS TO ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENTS FOR 401 K INVESTORS. IT’S A MOUTHFUL. HERE TO BREAK DOWN THE PROS AND CONS OF THIS ORDER IS CAP AND TRUST. VICE PRESIDENT AND FINANCIAL ADVISOR CATHERINE MCCALL. SO GOOD MORNING TO YOU. THANKS FOR JOINING US. SO WHAT IS THIS? WHAT IS THIS? WHAT DID I JUST SAY? SO BASICALLY THEY’RE TRYING TO OPEN UP THE DIFFERENT 4K OPTIONS TO NONTRADITIONAL INVESTMENT STRUCTURES. SO ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENTS COULD BE DEFINED AS ANYTHING FROM PRIVATE EQUITY, PRIVATE CREDIT. SO THOSE ARE NONPUBLIC COMPANIES. THAT INCLUDES REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT BITCOIN. BITCOIN IS ABSOLUTELY IN THE EQUATION. COMMODITIES OIL AND GAS YOU KNOW PARTNERSHIPS A LOT OF DIFFERENT NONTRADITIONAL THE FULL SPECTRUM THERE. NOW A LOT OF THOSE ARE HIGHER RISK. LIKE SAY YOU WERE INTERESTED IN BITCOIN. IT’S KIND OF A BUZZY YOU KNOW, WORD THESE DAYS. WOULD THAT BE SOMETHING FOR SAY, A A YOUNGER WORKER KIND OF JUST STARTING OUT WITH A NEW 401 K? OR WOULD THAT BE A GOOD INVESTMENT FOR SOMEBODY WHO’S NEARING RETIREMENT? SO HERE’S THE KEY HERE OKAY. YEAH I WOULD LOOK AT THIS AS WHERE THE INVESTMENT STRUCTURE IS. SO WHAT THIS IS OFFERING REALLY IS PRESIDENT TRUMP REALLY LOVES BITCOIN. AND HE WANTS MORE FOR INVESTORS, WHICH IS A BIG POOL OF MONEY TO BE ABLE TO INVEST IN THAT WITHIN THE STRUCTURE OF THEIR 401 K. SO EMPLOYERS HAVE A FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION TO OFFER A MENU OF INVESTMENTS, DOING SOMETHING LIKE BITCOIN INSIDE OF A 401 K HAS A TREMENDOUS OPPORTUNITY FOR GROWTH, AS WE’VE SEEN, BUT IT ALSO CREATES A LOT OF VOLATILITY. I WAS JUST GOING TO SAY THAT. AND AND AN INVESTMENT THAT CREATES POTENTIAL FOR COMPLETE 100% LOSSES. RIGHT. BECAUSE THAT HAS HAPPENED IN SOME OF THE BITCOIN INVESTMENTS. SO THAT CREATES A LOT OF LIABILITY ON THE PART OF THE EMPLOYER. AND MY THOUGHT FROM THIS EXECUTIVE ORDER IS THAT EMPLOYERS NEED TO BE REALLY CAREFUL ABOUT WHAT THEY DECIDE TO INCLUDE. THAT MAKES SENSE. SO WHAT ARE THE PROS AND CONS OF PRIVATE EQUITY AND PRIVATE CREDIT. RIGHT. SO THOSE HAVE BEEN AN INVESTMENT UNIVERSE THAT’S REALLY EXPANDED IN RECENT YEARS. THAT USED TO BE RESERVED FOR THE PRIVATE, YOU KNOW, ULTRA WEALTHY, VERY, VERY HIGH NET WORTH PEOPLE. THE INVESTMENT UNIVERSE IN THE PRIVATE MARKET HAS REALLY EXPANDED BECAUSE FEWER COMPANIES ARE GOING PUBLIC. RIGHT NOW, THERE’S ONLY ABOUT 4000 PUBLICLY TRADED COMPANIES IN THE UNITED STATES, 25 MILLION COMPANIES ARE IN THE PRIVATE UNITED STATES. SO HUGE INVESTMENT UNIVERSE. THE DRAWBACK TO THOSE TYPES OF INVESTMENTS IS THAT YOU HAVE ILLIQUIDITY, RIGHT? THEY’RE NOT GOING TO BE ABLE TO GET YOUR MONEY IMMEDIATELY. IN MOST CASES, IT’S A QUARTERLY. SOMETIMES IT TAKES YEARS. THE OTHER ASPECT IS THAT THEY’RE HIGHLY EXPENSIVE, RIGHT? THEY’RE GOING TO BE MORE EXPENSIVE MANAGEMENT FEES THAN A PUBLIC MARKET. THEY’RE ALSO MORE COMPLICATED INVESTMENT STRUCTURES. JUST SO IT’S IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND. I MEAN, WARREN BUFFETT LIKES TO SAY THAT YOU IF YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND THE INVESTMENT, YOU HAVE NO BUSINESS BEING IN THAT INVESTMENT. VERY WISE WORDS. A LOT OF PEOPLE WHO HAVE THESE INVESTMENTS, IT’S REALLY IMPORTANT, ESPECIALLY IF YOU’RE DOING IT IN SOMETHING LIKE YOUR RETIREMENT NEST EGG, WHICH IS YOUR WHOLE FUTURE. I WOULD HOPE YOU GOT TO BE REALLY CAUTIOUS ABOUT YOUR PARTICIPATION. AND LAST QUESTION HERE. WHY HAVE AN ALTERNATIVE HAS BEEN INCLUDED IN 401 S PREVIOUSLY? YEAH. SO I ALLUDED TO IT A LITTLE BIT. BUT A LOT OF THESE INVESTMENT STRUCTURES ARE NOT REGULATED. RIGHT. SO PRIVATE COMPANIES DON’T HAVE TO FACE THE SPECULATION REGULATION AND THE OVERSIGHT THAT A LOT OF PUBLIC COMPANIES HAVE TO FACE. AND BECAUSE OF ERISA, WHICH IS THAT RETIREMENT LAW THAT BASICALLY SAYS HERE’S HOW MUCH THE EMPLOYER IS OBLIGATED TO TAKE CARE OF THE EMPLOYEE IN TERMS OF THOSE RULES TO DO RIGHT BY THEM. AT A BASIC LEVEL, MOST OF THE ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENTS UP UNTIL NOW HAVE NOT MET THE CRITERIA. AS A QUALIFIED SUITABLE IN THEIR BEST INTEREST INVESTMENT. OKAY, SO THIS IS OPENING UP THAT DEBATE. YEAH. AND A LOT MORE TO COME ON THIS TOO, AS YOU SEE

Financial adviser talks about executive order on alternative investments for 401(k) investors

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Updated: 11:56 AM PDT Aug 20, 2025

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An executive order that President Donald Trump signed is called “Democratizing Access to Alternative Investments for 401(k) Investors.”CAPTRUST vice president and financial adviser Kathryn McCall joined KCRA 3 to discuss what investors should know about the order. She said those alternative investments could be private equity, private credit, real estate investments, cryptocurrencies and commodities. “President Trump really loves Bitcoin and he wants more 401(k) investors, which is a big pool of money, to be able to invest in that within the structure of their 401(k),” she said. She said that investing in Bitcoin “has a tremendous opportunity for growth, as we have seen, but it also creates a lot of volatility and an investment that creates potential for complete, 100% losses. That has happened in some of the Bitcoin investments.” McCall said that employers need to be “really careful about what they decide to include.” See more of what McCall had to say about investments in private equity and why alternative investments haven’t been included for 401(k) accounts in the past.See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

An executive order that President Donald Trump signed is called “Democratizing Access to Alternative Investments for 401(k) Investors.”

CAPTRUST vice president and financial adviser Kathryn McCall joined KCRA 3 to discuss what investors should know about the order.

She said those alternative investments could be private equity, private credit, real estate investments, cryptocurrencies and commodities.

“President Trump really loves Bitcoin and he wants more 401(k) investors, which is a big pool of money, to be able to invest in that within the structure of their 401(k),” she said.

She said that investing in Bitcoin “has a tremendous opportunity for growth, as we have seen, but it also creates a lot of volatility and an investment that creates potential for complete, 100% losses. That has happened in some of the Bitcoin investments.”

McCall said that employers need to be “really careful about what they decide to include.”

See more of what McCall had to say about investments in private equity and why alternative investments haven’t been included for 401(k) accounts in the past.

See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel