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Empower Advisory Group
Empower Advisory Group operates as the registered investment adviser (RIA) within Empower, a retirement services firm formally separated from Great-West...
Empower Advisory Group
Empower Advisory Group operates as the registered investment adviser (RIA) within Empower, a retirement services firm formally separated from Great-West Lifeco in 2016. Edmund F. Murphy III has led the parent entity since the carve-out, overseeing a period of rapid consolidation in the retirement plan recordkeeping industry. The firm traces its lineage to Great-West's acquisition of J.P. Morgan Retirement Plan Services in 2014, but the modern Empower identity crystallized with the rebranding and structural independence two years later. The advisory group functions primarily as a hybrid digital and human-guided wealth manager, serving both 401(k) participants rolling assets out of employer plans and direct retail clients. Its investment approach is centered on managed account programs and model portfolios, blending proprietary asset-allocation frameworks with third-party fund selection across asset classes including domestic and international equities, fixed income, and multi-asset income strategies. The platform gained its retail advisory muscle through the landmark 2020 purchase of the Personal Capital cash and wealth advisory business, integrating its digital planning tools and advisory relationships. This acquisition also brought on board a national network of CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professionals, supplementing the call-center-based advisory model Empower had previously relied on. The firm administers retirement plan assets for approximately 18 million participants, according to its own disclosures. Its growth strategy has been aggressively inorganic — most notably absorbing the recordkeeping businesses of MassMutual in 2020 and Prudential's full-service retirement arm in a $3.55 billion deal completed in April 2022, a transaction that cemented its position as the country's second-largest retirement plan provider by participants. Alongside its Boston headquarters, Empower maintains a significant operational footprint in Greenwood Village, Colorado, reflecting the legacy of the acquired Great-West and J.P. Morgan retirement businesses. The firm also operates Empower Life & Annuity Insurance Company of America, preserving a link to its insurance roots while the advisory group functions as the primary fee-based, fiduciary-interested arm of the enterprise. The structural differentiator for Empower Advisory Group lies in its closed-loop retirement ecosystem. Unlike standalone RIAs or broker-dealers, the firm sits atop an immense captive flow of retiring participants — millions each year — who can be onboarded directly into its advisory and wealth management offerings. This architecture blurs the line between a recordkeeper and a direct-to-consumer wealth manager, giving it a sourcing pipeline that independent advisors cannot replicate.
General information
Firm type
Asset Manager
Year founded
2016
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Boston
Corporate office
Boston, MA, United States
Principals
Edmund F. Murphy III
President and CEO, Empower
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs investment decisions at Empower Advisory Group?
Empower Advisory Group operates as Empower's in-house registered investment adviser. Day-to-day investment management is executed by Empower Capital Management, its affiliated investment management arm, under the broader leadership of Edmund F. Murphy III as President and CEO of Empower. The advisory group delivers managed account portfolios constructed by internal investment teams, often using proprietary glide-path models for retirement savers and goal-based planning frameworks for retail clients.
How does Empower Advisory Group source its clients?
The firm's primary sourcing advantage is its position within the Empower retirement ecosystem. Each year, millions of participants leave their employer-sponsored plans and must decide where to roll over their assets. Empower Advisory Group is positioned as the natural in-house destination for those rollovers. The 2020 acquisition of Personal Capital's advisory business added a secondary channel of digitally sourced, mass-affluent clients seeking comprehensive planning.
Is Empower Advisory Group structured as a single family office or a retail wealth manager?
It is a retail wealth manager and registered investment adviser, not a family office. The firm provides advisory services to individual retirement plan participants and mass-affluent retail clients. It sits within Empower, a large, for-profit financial services conglomerate ultimately owned by Great-West Lifeco.
Does Empower Advisory Group participate in fund commitments, or only direct managed accounts?
The advisory group allocates client assets into managed account portfolios that invest in mutual funds and ETFs across various asset classes. It does not function as an institutional fund investor making commitments to private equity, hedge, or venture capital funds on behalf of its retail clients. The platform is designed around liquid, publicly available securities in a fiduciary advisory wrapper.
What investment model underlies Empower Advisory Group's portfolios?
Portfolios are built using an asset allocation framework developed by Empower's internal investment team, with tactical tilts made periodically. The firm employs a goals-based approach for retail clients, often structured around retirement income planning. Managed accounts are typically implemented using third-party active and passive funds, with asset classes spanning domestic equities, international developed and emerging market equities, investment-grade fixed income, and high-yield bonds.
How is Empower Advisory Group related to its insurance parent, Great-West Lifeco?
Empower is a wholly owned subsidiary of Great-West Lifeco, a Canadian financial services holding company. Empower, in turn, operates several regulated entities, including Empower Advisory Group (the RIA), Empower Retirement (the recordkeeper), and Empower Life & Annuity Insurance Company. The advisory group functions as a distinct legal entity with its own fiduciary obligations to clients, though it benefits from the capital backing and institutional infrastructure of its parent.
What scale of assets does Empower Advisory Group directly manage?
Empower does not publicly break out assets under management for the advisory group separately from its recordkeeping assets. The parent entity administers over $1.4 trillion for roughly 18 million retirement plan participants, but only a portion of those assets are in advisory relationships overseen by Empower Advisory Group. Direct advisory AUM figures have not been disclosed in a dedicated, verifiable filing.
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