The retirement industry has raised few qualms about the passage of the “Big Beautiful Bill,” but President Donald Trump’s key legislation gives the sector little to shout about, industry sources say.

The new law does expand health savings accounts and makes some good on Trump’s campaign promise to not tax Social Security—it instead provides a temporary expanded deduction of up to $6,000 for those 65 or older if they make less than $75,000 per year (or less than $150,000 for married couples filing jointly).

Notably, the defined contribution retirement plan sector is relatively unchanged.

“The bill did not reduce the retirement savings tax incentives to raise revenue. Based on many discussions with Congressional offices during 2024 and 2025, we were confident that the retirement tax incentives would not be touched, but having that confirmed was excellent,” says Kent Mason, a partner in Davis & Harman LLP who advises clients on retirement savings. “Second, we were very disappointed that the big bill did not include a bill [S. 2003] introduced by Senators Tim Scott, Bill Cassidy, Roger Marshall and Thom Tillis to allow over $100 billion of currently unusable surplus in pension plans and retiree health accounts to be used to provide benefits to employees. The bill was estimated to raise $6.3 billion in revenue and was a pro-worker bill that allowed the use of over $100 billion to fund employee benefits.”

While the new law did exclude some proposals offered earlier in the process, what was left out of the bill was as much the story as anything else, according to some industry observers.

“Like most matters these days, there is a lot of disagreement around many of the provisions in this legislation,” wrote Brian Graff, the American Retirement Association’s CEO, in a LinkedIn post. “But I hope most of you do agree that keeping harmful retirement provisions off of this big bill is at least a ‘beautiful’ thing.”

Outside of retirement, the bill includes adding $5 trillion to the national debt limit, which would accelerate Social Security’s insolvency. Recent congressional inaction, unrelated to the new law, has already accelerated the depletion of funds in Social Security, the program’s Board of Trustees reported in June.

“The Social Security and Medicare Trustees estimated in their 2025 annual reports on the programs that the retirement and hospital trust funds will become insolvent in 2033—only 8 years from today. We estimate the One Big Beautiful Bill Act would accelerate Social Security and Medicare insolvency by a year, to 2032,” stated a June 27 blog post from the Committee for a Responsible Budget.

The Insured Retirement Institute and the Investment Company Institute praised the bill when it was sent to Trump’s desk last week.

“We’re also pleased the bill preserves the tax exclusion for employer-sponsored health insurance and the tax incentives Americans count on to save for retirement,” said James Gelfand, the ERISA Industry Committee’s president and CEO, in a statement. “ERIC will continue building on the bill’s foundational victories to deliver meaningful benefits changes for employees and their families, while guarding against efforts to weaken America’s private health and retirement systems.”

Meanwhile, the “Big Beautiful Bill” could reshape U.S. retirement policy, especially with its proposed “Trump Accounts” for children, says Romi Savova, CEO of PensionBee. Early saving makes sense—compound interest works best over time—but success depends on execution, she says.

According to Savova, the best retirement products are simple, accessible and flexible. Adding another complex account type risks worsening the confusion many already face. Therefore, if “Trump Accounts” make saving easy and intuitive, they could be transformative. If not, they will just add to the clutter.

“The best retirement account is the one people will consistently contribute to and actively manage throughout their lives,” Savova says.