Why firms now court 401(k) money

A Trump executive order is giving retail investors more access to private markets. Is that a golden opportunity — or fool’s gold?

• SOURCES:
  • Elisabeth de Fontenay, professor of law at Duke University.
  • Steven Kaplan, professor of entrepreneurship and finance at the University of Chicago.

• RESOURCES:
  • "Democratizing Access to Alternative Assets for 401(k) Investors," (The White House, 2025).
  • "The (Heterogeneous) Economic Effects of Private Equity Buyouts," by Steven J. Davis, John Haltiwanger, Kyle Handley, Ben Lipsius, Josh Lerner, and Javier Miranda (Management Science, 2025).
  • "Risk-Adjusted Returns of Private Equity Funds: A New Approach," by Arthur G. Korteweg and Stefan Nagel (The Review of Financial Studies, 2025).
  • "The Effects of Management Buyouts on Operating Performance and Value," by Steven Kaplan (Journal of Financial Economics, 1989).

• EXTRAS:
  • "The Biden Policy That Trump Hasn't Touched," by Freakonomics Radio (2025).
  • "Should Companies Be Owned by Their Workers?" by Freakonomics Radio (2024).
  • "Do You Know Who Owns Your Vet?" by Freakonomics Radio (2023).
  • "Are Private Equity Firms Plundering the U.S. Economy?" by Freakonomics Radio (2023).

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.