BlackRock: High-Growth Advisers Expand Their Reach Within Existing Relationships

Retirement plan advisers often assume the best way to grow assets and expand their practices is by winning new plans. However, BlackRock’s 2026 Read on Retirement Plan Advisor Survey, released October 27, suggest the fastest-growing firms are increasingly finding opportunities within their existing client relationships.

According to the survey, advisers in BlackRock’s “high-growth cohort” attributed nearly 30% of their historical growth to expanding existing client relationships, compared with 21% among the rest of the market.

To identify traits of top-performing firms, BlackRock grouped respondents into two categories: a high-growth cohort and the rest of the adviser market. The high-growth group was defined using four business-performance metrics: defined contribution assets under management growth, DC revenue growth, new-plan acquisition and client retention.

From 2023 through 2025, advisers in the high-growth cohort reported 121% growth in defined contribution assets under management, compared with 28% growth among the rest of the market. Members in the high-growth group also reported 139% revenue growth during the period, versus 33% for other advisers.

The firms were not only growing faster but also retaining clients and winning new business at a greater pace. Ninety percent of advisers in the high-growth cohort reported retaining at least 90% of their clients, compared with 86% for the broader market. High-growth firms also reported average growth in new-plan acquisition of 40%, versus 14% among other respondents.

Asked about their greatest business-growth opportunities, 29% of advisers in the high-growth cohort pointed to expanding existing client relationships, compared with 21% of advisers in the rest of the market. Meanwhile, 26% of high-growth advisers said pursuing new clients represented the largest opportunity, compared with 24% of the broader market.

Participants, Plan Designs

The focus on deepening relationships also extends beyond plan sponsors to participants in plans with which an adviser works, reflecting a growing convergence between workplace retirement plans and wealth management.

According to the survey, high-growth practices were 54% more likely to have a formal process for identifying participant wealth-management opportunities and 68% more likely to convert more than one in five participant interactions into ongoing financial-planning or wealth-management relationships. They were also substantially more likely to report that retirement plan relationships lead to managing business owners’ personal assets.

The survey also found that high-growth advisers take a more tailored approach to plan design and investment selection. They were 51% more likely to say qualified default investment alternative selection depends on a plan sponsor’s unique circumstances rather than a preferred investment approach.

Despite BlackRock’s label, high-growth advisers were not concentrated solely in the largest end of the retirement-plan market. In fact, they were nearly twice as likely as other respondents to identify the mid-market as their greatest growth opportunity.

BlackRock’s findings were informed by its new DC Practice Index, which allows advisers to benchmark their growth strategies, client solutions and business practices against those of the high-growth cohort.

Escalent conducted the research for BlackRock using online surveys with more than 300 plan advisers across five channels, each with at least $10 million in DC assets advised, between August 6 and 24.