A T. Rowe Price survey of DC consultants reveals where AI, private assets, and personalisation are headed, providing insights for Canadian advisors
A major new survey of defined contribution retirement consultants in the United States reveals an industry in rapid motion and for Canadian financial advisors, several of the trends it captures are already playing out on this side of the border.
T. Rowe Price, a Baltimore-based global asset management firm that manages approximately $1.9 trillion in client assets, released its sixth annual Defined Contribution Consultant Study this week, drawing on responses from 36 leading US consulting and advisory firms representing more than 160,000 DC plan sponsor clients and $10.3 trillion in DC plan assets under advisement or roughly 72% of the total American DC plan market, based on Investment Company Institute data as of December 31, 2025.
While the report is anchored in the US context such as ERISA fiduciary rules, Department of Labor guidance, and the specific mechanics of 401(k) plans, three of its headline findings resonate directly with challenges Canadian wealth advisors are navigating right now: the pace of AI adoption, the growing appetite for private assets in retirement portfolios, and the deepening demand for personalised retirement income planning.
"At T. Rowe Price, our research is driven by a spirit of curiosity and a commitment to uncovering deeper insights," said Jessica Sclafani, head of the Retirement Strategist Team at T. Rowe Price. "By capturing the insights of leading consultants and advisors, we are better equipped to anticipate emerging trends, incorporate client preferences into our solutions, and help clients make more informed decisions in an evolving retirement landscape."
AI moves from experimentation to daily use
A key finding in this year's study is how quickly artificial intelligence has moved from a topic of discussion to a standard operating tool. In 2025, 44% of US respondent firms described their AI use as too early to evaluate. By 2026, that share had fallen to 14%, a drop of 30 percentage points in 12 months.
The tasks driving adoption are largely operational: 78% of firms report using AI to improve internal workflows, 67% to streamline client preparation, and 47% to support client outreach. Usage for fiduciary and advice-intensive activities, including plan design analysis (12%) and participant engagement (9%), remains limited, a clear signal that human judgment continues to be viewed as irreplaceable in those areas.
That distinction will feel familiar to Canadian advisors. Research published by IG Wealth Management earlier in 2026 found that 91% of Canadian advisors believe AI is a powerful tool that can help elevate their practices, yet a significant share remains cautious about compliance implications and the potential impact on client relationships.
The T. Rowe Price data adds a useful US data point: firms that have implemented formal AI governance policies use AI tools approximately 50% more frequently across their business than those without such frameworks, suggesting that structured adoption, rather than open-ended experimentation, is what actually moves the needle.
The Bank of Canada's own 2026 survey of financial-sector participants found that industry professionals view AI primarily as a tool for completing existing tasks more efficiently, rather than for replacing human decision-making; a perspective that aligns with what T. Rowe Price's study found among retirement consultants south of the border.
Private assets: the US leads, but Canada is watching
The survey's findings on private assets are where the geographic divergence is sharpest but where the directional signal is still meaningful for Canadian advisors.
US consultants reported dramatically rising expectations for private credit and private equity inside DC plan portfolios. Private credit received a mean likelihood score of 2.6 out of 4 in 2026, up from 1.7 in 2024. Private equity moved from 1.6 to 2.2 over the same period. Both are expected to enter DC plans primarily through target-date funds, either custom or off-the-shelf. Co-manufactured target-date solutions have already grown to more than $70 billion in US DC plan assets as of year-end 2025, an increase of more than 50% year-over-year, according to data from Sway Research.
In Canada, the pathway is structurally different. Canadian group RRSPs and DC pension plans are governed by provincial pension legislation and overseen by regulators including the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions, the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario, and their provincial equivalents with no equivalent to the US Department of Labor's proposed safe harbour rule, which was published in March 2026.
However, the broader conversation about alternative investments in Canadian retirement savings is already under way, with large Canadian pension plans having long allocated to private markets and retail-facing platforms beginning to offer group plan members access to private credit and private equity strategies through managed vehicles.
For Canadian advisors whose clients hold group plan assets or are building self-directed registered retirement savings, the US trajectory provides a useful reference point on where the industry conversation is heading.
Retirement income and personalisation: a shared priority
Where the T. Rowe Price study maps most directly onto the Canadian advice environment is its findings on retirement income and personalisation.
US consultant support ratings for pre-retiree communications rose from 2.7 to 3.1 on a scale of 1 to 4 between 2021 and 2026. Support for retirement planning tools climbed from 2.5 to 2.9 over the same five years, and managed accounts incorporating personal objectives moved from 2.5 to 2.8. These are not marginal gains; they represent a sustained shift toward treating decumulation and income planning as a core advisory function rather than an afterthought.
The study's most consistent finding across all six years is that a simple systematic withdrawal capability remains the most appealing retirement income solution, rated 3.2 out of 4 by consultants in 2026. That priority — helping clients convert savings into predictable, repeatable income — is as relevant in a Canadian registered retirement income fund context as it is in a US 401(k).
Canadian advisors are increasingly focussing on how to structure retirement income in a period of rising longevity expectations and shifting CPP and OAS strategies.
The T. Rowe Price data reinforces the competitive logic: advisors and firms that build structured capability around retirement income planning, whether through managed accounts, systematic withdrawal frameworks, or decumulation-focused conversations, are better positioned to retain clients through the critical pre- and post-retirement transition.
What advisors can take from the data
No US research study translates directly to a Canadian practice. The regulatory frameworks differ, the product structures differ, and the tax environment differs significantly. But the T. Rowe Price findings are useful in three ways for advisors in Canada.
First, the AI adoption data confirms that firms with governance frameworks - clear policies, approved tools, and defined use cases - adopt AI at a meaningfully higher rate than those without.
Second, the private assets data illustrates the direction of travel in professionally managed retirement solutions globally. Canadian advisors whose clients are asking about private credit or alternative diversification might use the US consultant consensus - that target-date-style multi-asset structures are the appropriate vehicle, not standalone allocations - as a framework for those conversations.
Third, the consistency of the retirement income findings across six years of the study makes a straightforward argument: systematic withdrawal capability and personalised managed-account approaches are what clients want, and the advisors building that capability are winning mandates.
