A significant portion of client wealth continues to sit unmanaged in workplace retirement accounts—quietly growing, often overlooked, and historically out of reach for most financial advisors. Employer-sponsored plans such as 401(k)s, 403(b)s, and 457s have long represented a frustrating blind spot in otherwise comprehensive wealth management. Absolute Capital Management is changing that, delivering a TAMP (turnkey asset management platform) that brings those assets into the advisory fold and opens the door to a new level of planning, service, and retention.
In an interview with The Wealth Advisor’s Scott Martin, Alex Barned, National Sales Director at Absolute Capital, discussed the firm’s mission to integrate these often-overlooked accounts into a fully managed portfolio experience—without adding operational friction for the advisor.
Unlocking Access to Workplace Accounts
For many advisors, workplace retirement assets have traditionally presented an enormous opportunity paired with logistical dead ends. Those accounts hold trillions in assets, but most advisors haven’t had the tools to access, manage, or bill on them effectively. That’s where Absolute Capital comes in.
“We are the first complete end-to-end TAMP dedicated to helping advisors manage their clients’ 401, 403, and 457 accounts,” Barned says. “In essence, their clients’ workplace accounts, which have been a little bit neglected perhaps over the decades.”
The platform doesn’t require advisors to become plan consultants or navigate complex employee benefit plan regulatory frameworks such as ERISA. There are no consultant relationships to build, no plan menus to design, and no long onboarding cycles with employers. Instead, advisors can serve each client individually, nearly immediately.
“This has nothing to do with you and the plan,” Barned emphasizes. “No consultants, no two-year waits, no multi-month sales cycles. This is you helping one client at a time with a turnaround that’s more measured in a week or two than months.”
The implications are massive. Advisors can finally bring professional management into a segment of their clients’ financial lives that was previously considered off-limits—and they can do it quickly and compliantly.
A Platform Designed for Scale and Simplicity
One of the key differentiators of Absolute Capital’s offering is its scale. Through its direct integrations with more than two dozen recordkeepers, the firm provides access to approximately 24 million plan participants across 125,000 employer-sponsored plans. That breadth allows advisors to plug into virtually any client’s workplace plan.
“You’ve got a client running the local Hilton Hotel down the street. They currently have 15 or 20 choices in their plan,” Barned explains. “We’re not using any of those. We’re going to install one or multiple different [separately managed account] strategist models there.”
By bypassing the default fund lineup and replacing it with actively managed strategist portfolios, the advisor delivers a singular experience—an institutional-grade overlay that’s tailored to the client’s risk profile. This approach might not only enhance outcomes but also strengthen advisor-client relationships by offering true value where most competitors cannot.
More importantly, advisors gain full visibility and control. “Now the advisor has optics on all of this, which is frankly the most important part,” says Barned. “It’s full digital connectivity to a plan, which has really opened the door.”
Visibility translates to better planning. With workplace assets integrated, advisors can make more accurate assessments of a client’s total financial picture, risk exposure, and retirement preparedness. Such precision creates value in the accumulation phase and paves the way for seamless distribution planning down the road.
Real-Time Management Without the Operational Headache
Advisors already working with Absolute Capital often cite the same revelation: they don’t need to manage trades or log into client accounts to execute strategies. Unlike legacy approaches that have relied on screen scraping or client credentials, Absolute Capital’s platform is fully integrated with recordkeepers. That means automation, compliance, and scale.
“The ‘aha’ moments are, ‘I don’t have to do this with client credentials.’ ‘I’m not having to trade this myself,’” Barned emphasizes. “It’s not me having to try to figure out how to learn all these plans to scale it across 15 different employers.”
That operational simplicity is a game-changer for solo practitioners and multi-advisor firms alike. Advisors can focus on planning and relationships while Absolute Capital handles the heavy lifting—automated allocations, professional oversight, and strategy adjustments based on market conditions.
“It’s never set it and forget it, because the client is involved and their life is involved,” Barned clarifies. “But logistically, it’s very much set it and forget it. Then go focus on the client and focus on client needs because the system’s going to take care of your trading and adjustments to market conditions.”
For those looking to scale without compromising client service, the ability to deliver institutional-quality management for workplace accounts—without the operational burden—is no longer theoretical. Absolute Capital makes it practical, efficient, and ready to implement.
A Tool for Retention, Prospecting, and Generational Growth
Beyond operational advantages, Absolute Capital opens new strategic pathways for advisors. Managing workplace accounts early in a client relationship helps lock in future rollover business and ensure continuity at key life-cycle moments such as retirement.
“You’re first in line,” Barned says. “We’ve all seen it over our careers. Someone decides they’re going to retire, and magically 20 financial advisors appear in their world. This is a way just to make sure you’re in the old-fashioned sales line, keeping the back door closed.”
But the value doesn’t stop there. Advisors are also using the platform to win new relationships with the next generation. Traditionally, younger investors with only workplace accounts were difficult to serve profitably. Absolute Capital’s TAMP can change that.
“One of the interesting pieces when we launched a few years ago was that you’d get an advisor who’d say, ‘Well, my clients are retired. Have you approached the children to go manage their 401(k)?’” Barned explains. “So, we’re even seeing success from that aspect.”
By enabling advisors to engage the children of current clients in a scalable, managed, and professional way, Absolute Capital helps practices extend their value proposition across generations, potentially bridging gaps in service and ensuring continuity.
Integrating Held-Away Assets into Holistic Planning
From a planning standpoint, the inclusion of workplace retirement accounts adds a vital piece to the puzzle. Many clients hold more assets in those plans than in their taxable or individual retirement accounts (IRAs). Ignoring the employer-sponsored plans can undermine risk assessments and limit advisors’ ability to guide clients toward their retirement goals.
“You really need to bring that into the fold to know the full risk profile for any particular client,” Barned says.
The firm’s proprietary Navigator Platform gives advisors access to more than 1,000 model manager strategies, which can be blended to meet client-specific risk and reward objectives. Combined with integrated billing, sleeve-level reporting, and proposal generation, the platform delivers a true end-to-end TAMP experience across all types of accounts—including those most difficult to reach.
Absolute Capital also takes pride in its service model. From onboarding to administration, the firm aims to reduce the operational burden on advisors. “We look forward to helping our advisor partners ‘Do More,’” the firm states on its website—and according to Barned, that’s not just a slogan. It’s a mission.
A TAMP Built for the Missing Piece
Advisors already using traditional TAMPs to manage taxable accounts, IRAs, and trust assets will find that Absolute Capital doesn’t seek to replace them. Instead, the firm fills in the missing piece—those elusive workplace accounts that carry both complexity and opportunity.
“We can do all the TAMP things all the other TAMPs do on an IRA or an individual account,” Barned says. “This is a completely different sleeve. It’s a multi-trillion dollar sleeve that previously has basically been off limits.”
Absolute Capital isn’t just another TAMP. It’s a partner that helps advisors go deeper into client relationships, unlock new asset categories, and future-proof their practices against commoditization. As the lines between accumulation, distribution, and generational transfer blur, advisors need a way to meet clients wherever their money lives. Absolute Capital delivers that capability—seamlessly, compliantly, and at scale.
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