Private Equity Firms Are Winning the Fight for Your 401(k)

Private equity firms tailoring their products to casual workplace investors are winning repeated legal and regulatory battles in spite of critics who warn that unbridled funds threaten to undermine workers’ 401(k)s.

Intel Corp.‘s retirement plan committee defeated a class lawsuit this month that had been brought by employees challenging a suite of custom target-date funds invested in private companies. The U.S. Labor Department, meanwhile, mostly agreed in December to the terms laid out in Trump-era subregulatory guidance granting self-directed retirement plans permission to trade in off-market securities.

Investing in private companies outside traditional regulatory controls could make or break ...