Beyond the Perimeter:
How Retirement Plans Are Re‑Entering a Deregulated Marketplace

Plan Sponsor guide

 As defined contribution plans evolve, more participant assets are quietly moving outside the most robust investor‑protection frameworks, often without participants realizing it. In this extensive resource, Erik Daley examines how retirement plans are re‑entering the edges of a deregulated marketplace through collective investment trusts (CITs), private equity, private credit, insurance structures, and other non‑traditional vehicles, and what that shift means for fiduciaries, participants, and the retirement system itself.

For plan sponsors, investment committees, and advisors, the question is no longer whether innovation belongs in DC plans, but how much complexity participants can reasonably bear, and what protections are being traded away in the process.

Beyond the Perimeter provides a clear, practical examination of:

  • The regulatory perimeter
    How investor protections were designed—and where they stop
  • CITs vs. mutual funds
    When fee optimization becomes a governance tradeoff
  • Private equity and private credit in DC plans
    What the DOL’s evolving guidance really allows—and what it demands
  • Insurance, stable value, and lifetime income products
    How protection profiles differ from 1940 Act funds
  • Crypto and other edge‑of‑perimeter assets
    Why “neutral” regulatory posture still means high fiduciary risk
  • A fiduciary risk map
    Where participant harm, litigation, and system‑level risks can emerge
  • A practical evaluation framework
    A repeatable way to assess non‑40 Act and private‑market products
  • Policy and industry recommendations
    How innovation can continue—without surprising participants

Download our in-depth resource to understand the risks, tradeoffs, and guardrails every fiduciary should be considering.


Multnomah Group is a registered investment adviser registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Any information contained herein or on Multnomah Group’s website is provided for educational purposes only and does not intend to make an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of any specific securities, investments, or investment strategies. Investments involve risk and, unless otherwise stated, are not guaranteed. Multnomah Group does not provide legal or tax advice.