Pontera Expands Connected Retirement Infrastructure with New Non-Discretionary Advice Offering

The retirement ecosystem now has more ways to ensure retirement savers are getting the financial advice they need

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Pontera, the financial technology company building the digital infrastructure for connected retirement planning, today announced the upcoming expansion of its platform to support non-discretionary retirement advice. Launching in September, the new offering will enable advisors to provide non-discretionary advice to the retirement savers they serve through a secure, seamless, and guided experience. Advisors can join the waitlist beginning today.

The expansion will enable Pontera’s retirement planning platform to support multiple advice models, giving advisors and investors greater flexibility while preserving the safeguards, transparency, and oversight that financial institutions require. The non-discretionary offering goes well beyond general aggregation, adding enterprise-grade functionality: drift calculation, rebalancing advice communication infrastructure, supervision alerts, audit trails, and reminders, reducing both manual workload and administrative burden. Firms leveraging the non-discretionary offering will also have access to Pontera’s broad ecosystem of integrations, which can streamline householding, billing, reporting, supervision, and compliance and make it easier for firms to fold workplace retirement accounts into their existing systems and tools.

One platform. Two workflows:

• Discretionary advice: Advisors rebalance investments on behalf of retirement savers who grant authorization.

• Non-discretionary advice: Advisors provide ongoing recommendations that retirement savers can implement through guided workflows for a more hands-on approach to investment.

“Retirement savers deserve choice in how they receive financial advice. Some want their advisor to implement every portfolio decision. Others want to stay directly involved while benefiting from professional guidance. Our job is to build the infrastructure that supports both,” said Yoav Zurel, CEO of Pontera. “There is no one-size-fits-all approach to retirement planning because there is no one-size-fits-all retirement saver.”

For years, Pontera has helped advisors manage retirement accounts that have been operationally disconnected from the rest of a retirement saver’s financial life. The platform replaces outdated, manual email and pen-and-paper processes and is designed with layered safeguards that preserve client control while enabling professional advice:

• No direct account access: Advisors cannot log in to or directly access client accounts.
• No withdrawals: Advisors cannot withdraw client funds.
• No beneficiary changes: Advisors cannot modify account beneficiaries.
• No contribution changes: Advisors cannot adjust paycheck contribution amounts.

The non-discretionary offering not only provides the same controls and investment lineups but also industry-first advisor and client collaboration tools:

• Advisor recommendations are delivered directly through the Pontera platform to the client’s personal portal.
• Guided workflows take savers on a step-by-step journey to implement advisor recommendations, removing guesswork.
• Both parties receive real-time, in-platform notifications for advisor-recommended portfolio adjustments.

The result is a flexible model that expands access to professional financial advice, helping retirement savers benefit from strategies that research suggests can add approximately 3% in net annual value.

“Retirement savers should have meaningful opportunities to benefit from professional financial guidance, regardless of how they choose to receive that advice,” said Lisa M. Gomez, Strategic Advisor to Pontera and former Assistant Secretary of Labor for Employee Benefits Security at the U.S. Department of Labor. “Technology should expand access, not limit it. Solutions that preserve consumer authorization, transparency, and investor choice help move the retirement system toward that goal.”

Built for a Fragmented Retirement Ecosystem

The retirement ecosystem remains highly fragmented across recordkeepers, custodians, payroll providers, and technology platforms. Because no single connectivity model serves every institution, expanding access to retirement advice requires infrastructure that supports multiple approaches while preserving investor choice.

“With Social Security's future uncertain and market volatility near all-time highs, access to advice is critical for retirement security,” said Ben White, Senior Director, Retirement Strategic Partnerships at Pontera. “Our responsibility is to build secure infrastructure that lets advisors, retirement savers, and institutions work together, so every investor has the opportunity to benefit from professional guidance."

For more information or to join the waitlist for Pontera’s non-discretionary offering, visit http://pontera.com/lp/non-discretionary.

About Pontera

Pontera provides the infrastructure that connects retirement accounts with holistic financial advice. The platform enables retirement savers to authorize their trusted financial advisors to incorporate workplace retirement accounts into comprehensive financial planning through secure, permissioned connectivity. By helping eliminate retirement account blind spots, Pontera empowers advisors to deliver more complete advice while preserving consumer choice, security, and control.