Pontera, the fintech platform that enables advisors to manage clients' held-away retirement accounts, is introducing a non-discretionary advice workflow. The new feature, expected to go live next month, will allow advisors to deliver portfolio recommendations that retirement savers implement themselves through a guided, step-by-step process. This contrasts with Pontera's existing discretionary model, where advisors execute trades directly after receiving client authorization.
Advisors can join a waitlist for the new capability starting Wednesday, the company said. Under the non-discretionary workflow, advisor recommendations flow directly to a client's personal portal, and both parties receive real-time notifications when a portfolio adjustment is suggested. The build includes drift calculation, rebalancing-alert infrastructure, supervision alerts, and audit trails, all aimed at reducing the manual work firms currently absorb when overseeing outside retirement accounts.
“Retirement savers deserve choice in how they receive financial advice,” said Yoav Zurel, Pontera's chief executive. “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.”
The non-discretionary rollout follows other product additions this year aimed at easing advisors' administrative load around workplace accounts. Last month, Pontera introduced a bulk rebalancing tool that lets advisory teams manage shared retirement-plan accounts in a single pass, rather than adjusting each client's holdings one at a time—a change the company said could save advisors roughly three hours per plan. That release came on the heels of a deepened data-sharing arrangement with Orion, which feeds held-away account data into Orion's Eclipse trading environment.
Pontera said the new non-discretionary offering comes with the same account-level guardrails as its discretionary product. Advisors cannot log into client accounts directly, cannot withdraw funds, cannot change beneficiaries, and cannot adjust contribution levels.
“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, former assistant secretary of labor for employee benefits security at the U.S. Department of Labor and now strategic advisor to Pontera. “Technology should expand access, not limit it.”
Pontera's push into non-discretionary advice also follows a policy brief the company backed through the Aspen Institute Financial Security Program. The brief, funded by Pontera and drawn from a February 2025 gathering of policy experts, argues that fixing leaks in the retirement system would require a regulatory framework for secure data portability, AI-enabled tools that translate that data into usable guidance, and a broadly accessible delivery model—a kind of advice “public option” that blends digital tools with human support.
The policy paper also flags a persistent advice gap: while the needs of households who are “just in the black” are often too complex for basic budgeting apps, those savers are not yet profitable enough for traditional advisory relationships to serve well. This gap is central to Pontera's strategy, as the firm seeks to expand its footprint beyond the customizable model portfolios that have become popular among advisors.
Pontera's expansion comes as the retirement-planning landscape evolves, with more workers delaying retirement amid inflation and market volatility. The firm's tools aim to help advisors serve the growing number of clients with 401(k) and other employer-sponsored accounts, a segment that has historically been difficult to manage due to custodial limitations.
For advisors, the new non-discretionary option could be particularly useful for clients who prefer to remain hands-on with their retirement investments. It also provides a compliance-friendly alternative for firms that may not have the capacity to execute trades on behalf of clients in held-away accounts. As Pontera continues to build out its platform, the company is positioning itself as a key infrastructure provider for the growing retirement fiduciary market.
