At some point, without much notice, 401kHelpCenter.com disappeared.
No announcement. No farewell post. No “we’re shutting down” explanation. One day it was there — the next day it wasn’t. And that’s a shame, because it was one of the best collectors of 401(k) content the industry ever had.
For years, 401kHelpCenter wasn’t flashy. It wasn’t trying to sell you a platform, a managed account, or a bundled solution. It did something far more valuable: it curated. It gathered articles, regulatory updates, commentary, and resources from across the retirement industry and put them in one place. It respected the idea that good information mattered, and that practitioners — plan sponsors, providers, and advisors — wanted access to it without marketing noise.
In an industry that now confuses content with branding and education with lead generation, 401kHelpCenter felt almost old-fashioned. It didn’t pretend to be the smartest voice in the room. It let everyone be heard.
Its disappearance says something uncomfortable about where we are as an industry. Content has become transactional. If it doesn’t convert, it doesn’t survive. If it doesn’t fit neatly into a funnel, it gets abandoned. The idea of maintaining a neutral, centralized library of retirement plan knowledge doesn’t generate enough ROI to justify the effort — even if it creates enormous value.
That’s the real loss.
401kHelpCenter wasn’t perfect, but it was useful. It helped newcomers learn the landscape and veterans keep up with it. It reminded us that the retirement industry is bigger than any one firm, platform, or personality.
When a site like that goes dark, knowledge doesn’t disappear — it fragments. It gets buried behind paywalls, gated downloads, and SEO-driven blog posts that say less and sell more.
That’s progress, I guess.
But it still feels like something important was lost.