Set retirement savers free

Pontera democratizes access to 401(k) advice

• Our company: Pontera is a technology platform that enables financial advisers to provide a more holistic service by managing their clients’ workplace retirement accounts.

• Pontera is a technology platform, not an adviser: Pontera does not provide investment advice, analysis, or recommendations. Advisers use Pontera to carry out their own advice for their clients.

• Pontera is purpose-built to only view and rebalance: Advisers can only use Pontera to view client account information, and to communicate rebalancing instructions to their clients’ recordkeeper. Advisers cannot withdraw or transfer funds, or change beneficiaries or contributions. 

• Pontera is a vendor to the adviser, not the 401(k) plan: Consistent with decades of industry practice, financial advisers use Pontera to provide individualized advice to their clients’ 401(k) assets.

• Pontera is consumer-authorized: Pontera requires consumer authorization to facilitate its service for advisers, just like tools millions of Americans use to file taxes, build a budget, apply for a loan, or share information with their adviser. 

• Advisers have used client-authorized tools for decades: For at least twenty-five years, advisers have used tools like data aggregators which clients authorize to use their credentials to facilitate a service. 

• Advisers never have client credentials and can’t access client accounts: advisers only interact with Pontera’s platform, ensuring that they never see or access client credentials, and never access client accounts at custodian or recordkeeper websites. 

• All adviser activities on Pontera are auditable: Because advisers need to keep records, all adviser activities on Pontera create an auditable, immutable record.

• Pontera maintains leading cybersecurity: To keep client information and accounts secure, Pontera maintains industry-leading cybersecurity standards and certifications. Learn more at our Trust Center.

401(k)s are getting complicated. Advice is more necessary than ever. 

Background: As 401(k)s evolve to include new investment options like annuities, lifetime income, private equity and real estate, plan participants will face more complex asset classes with nuanced risk-return profiles, fees, and liquidity constraints. Education about these investments will be important to mitigate the risk for misunderstanding and misallocating balances. For some participants, having their personal advisor make these decisions for them will be crucial.

Why It Matters: Advisers are generally more educated and licensed to understand complex financial products. This makes them uniquely positioned to provide education, risk assessment, and personalized asset allocation. When advisers can evaluate complex in-plan assets alongside clients’ non-plan assets, they can help clients manage their retirement savings and investments as a whole. 

Consumers should control their own data

Background: Financial planning is a data-driven exercise, and the key ingredient is the ability to aggregate financial information from across a person’s holistic financial life. The 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act included Section 1033, which provides consumers the right to access their financial information in a digital form from their financial institutions. For at least 25 years, participants have used tools to aggregate information into a dashboard for financial planning, or otherwise connect their accounts to third-party tools that help them make financial decisions. 

Why it Matters: Starting in 2018, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau undertook a Consumer Financial Data Rights rulemaking. A final rule was published in 2024, but banks immediately sued the government, and then took steps to charge consumers for access to their own information. Regulators and policymakers clearly support access to financial data, as an exercise in improving competition and innovation in financial services.

Data aggregation is the norm of modern financial services operations

The financial services industry is increasingly becoming digitized. Americans expect to have the ability to choose where they keep their money, how they move it, and who they share it with.  Financial technology companies have evolved to offer more personalized financial tools compared to traditional financial institutions, and consumers expect minimal financial restrictions. 

Pontera uses “account aggregation” technology to power its services, a technology and process that is ubiquitous in the financial services industry. This technology is crucial in enabling trusted advisers to offer holistic investment strategies and advice to their clients.