New DOL Rule Could Bring Alternative Investments to Dollar General 401(k) Plans

A modest difference in annual fees can quietly cost a retirement saver tens of thousands of dollars over a 30-year career, and a new Department of Labor proposal could soon put higher-cost investment options directly onto the Dollar General 401(k) menu.

The DOL published a proposed regulation titled "Fiduciary Duties in Selecting Designated Investment Alternatives" on March 31, 2026, in the Federal Register. The rule creates a process-based safe harbor that would make it significantly easier for 401(k) plan fiduciaries to add alternatives, including private equity, real estate, digital assets like cryptocurrency, and commodities, to participant-directed retirement plans. The proposal follows a presidential executive order directing expanded access to alternative assets in retirement accounts, and it targets a retirement market worth nearly $14 trillion.

Under the framework, a fiduciary that evaluates investments against six defined factors, specifically performance, fees, liquidity, valuation, benchmarking, and complexity, would be presumed to have met its duty of prudence under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. That litigation shield is the incentive for plan sponsors. The DOL's stated aim is to alleviate regulatory burdens that have historically kept alternatives off standard 401(k) menus.

For Dollar General employees enrolled in the company's defined contribution plan, administered through Voya Financial, that shift could eventually mean new line items on the investment menu that look very different from the index and mutual funds most participants are accustomed to. The plan currently offers a dollar-for-dollar company match on contributions up to 5% of pay, a meaningful benefit that becomes less powerful if high-fee investments erode compounding returns over time.

The practical risk is not the headline investment category. It is the fine print. Alternative funds frequently carry expense ratios several times higher than low-cost index funds. They often impose lockup periods during which participants cannot access their money, and their valuations can be opaque because the underlying assets do not trade on public markets daily. The Private Equity Stakeholder Project, a nonprofit watchdog that monitors private equity and private funds, expressed concern that the safe harbor would make it harder for workers to challenge fiduciary decisions in court, even if an investment ultimately underperforms.

The proposed rule is not final. The DOL is accepting public comments during an open window, and any Dollar General worker or labor advocate with concerns about worker protections can submit feedback directly through the federal rulemaking process before that window closes.

In the meantime, concrete steps are worth taking now. The Voya Retire mobile app, available in English and Spanish on both Android and iOS, gives participants real-time access to their current fund lineup, balances, and investment options. Annual fee disclosure documents, known as ERISA fee summaries, are available through the plan and list the expense ratio for each fund currently on the menu. If a new alternative option appears, the three questions worth raising with HR or the plan administrator are: What is the expected lockup period, if any? What is the fund's expense ratio compared to a similar index fund? And how is the investment valued when there is no public market price?

Watch for these red flags specifically: any fund that restricts access to contributions for a defined period, any offering that cannot provide a clear performance benchmark, and expense ratios above 1% annually. That last number compounds against balances over decades in ways that can dwarf the damage from a single bad market year.

The safe harbor framework, if finalized, shifts more responsibility for smart choices onto participants. Checking the fee sheet before enrolling in any new fund, not after, is the most effective protection a Dollar General employee has over their own retirement balance.