ENCOURAGING ANGELS: Executive Order Now Lets Bankers Empty Their Private Equity Garbage Into the Retirement Accounts of Everyday Americans-The Problem With Blue Owl

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By Stan Szymanski

Yesterday, Boaz Weinstein of Saba Capital Management, said the weight of the impact of Blue Owl Capital Inc.’s (OWL) private credit funds illiquidity may be an early indicator of vulnerability and weakness in the significant $1.8T market:

…’“All you need is the snowball to start going down the hill and it started. Blue Owl is right in the middle of that,” Weinstein said at an industry conference in Miami Beach, Florida, Bloomberg reported. “I think we are in the super-early innings of the wheels coming off the car.” (Seeking Alpha 2/24/26)

Weinsteins’ comments come after Blue Owl permanently blocked withdrawals from a $1.6 Billion private credit vehicle and sold $1.4B in loans to pension funds. Blue Owl also sold loans to its own insurance company, feeding new worries about risks concerning liquidity in this part of the ‘alternatives’ market.

People might tend to think that ‘Private Equity’ is just for the wealthy that frequent the Hamptons on vacation. This type of ‘alternative’ investment has recently become much more mainstream than most people realize.

Just last year, President Trump signed an executive order opening the door for providers of 401(k) (and IRA) retirement plans to offer private equity investments to this large and lucrative market:

…’Private asset managers have been tantalized for years about the $29 trillion in Americans’ retirement accounts. Donald Trump just made it easier for them to get a slice.’…(Forbes 8/8/25)

In ‘Private Equity Firms Celebrate Trump’s Executive Order Giving Them The Keys To Retirement’ Forbes staff writer Hank Tucker points out that…

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…’The order also covers other alternative asset classes like real estate and cryptocurrencies. It doesn’t put any policy into effect immediately and simply asks Chavez-DeRemer to clarify this guidance within 180 days, but it didn’t take that long for Chavez DeRemer to hint that her conclusion will be in favor of private equity.’…(Forbes)

Who thinks that we are on the edge of a great real estate boom? Not so much? The coming ‘Apocolypse ‘of Commercial Real Estate have been documented during the past five years. As far as cryptocurrency is concerned, Bitcoin rallied over $3,000 in the last 24 hours and is still significantly below 70K ($67,467 at last look)-down roughly 47% off its high of just 5 months ago.

So both real estate and cryptocurrency highlighted in the Forbes article above as an opportunity for the masses, to me, looks like nothing more than the bankers dumping their garbage (Private Equity which is now ‘not so’ Private Equity) into the wallet of many unsuspecting American retirement plan owners.

One of the other things pointed out about Trump’s Executive Order concerning Private Equity is that the Order requested 180 days for Chavez-DeRemer (who is Lori Chavez-DeRemer, the United States Secretary of Labor, serving in President Donald Trump’s second administration) to provide clarity concerning the order. That was early August 2025. That means that the six months has just passed and that most likely the door has now been opened private equity investment products.

Two days ago, the Blue Owl situation has shown just how illiquid Private Equity products can be. Whether the Blue Owl products are now in mainstream retirement accounts, I do not know. This is potentially just the tip of the iceberg. If it was in an individual retirement account, that would be a problem. My concern is that the retirement plans of real hard working Americans will serve as a clearinghouse and a source of liquidity for the bankers while the average person is unknowingly holding assets that may not be able to be sold for a plug nickel in an open and free market. If the bankers private asset products are garbage-how good can their overall liquidity situation be and is this indicative of bigger systemic failures?

If it were me, I would consider contacting my 401(k)/403(b) et. al. administrator and tell them that I don’t want to be the recipient of Wall Streets’ problems in my portfolio.

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Stan Szymanski (or Encouraging Angels) is not a medical doctor. This is not medical advice. In all matters pertaining to the health and care of a human being consult a medical doctor. This is not legal, financial or personal advice. Consult appropriate professionals in those fields for that type of advice. For informational purposes only.