Putnam Campaign Advises Anticipating, Not Reacting

 

Putnam Investments  aims to shine a light on the critical role of innovation in driving outcomes for advisers and investors.


 

 

The firm is kicking off an awareness-building campaign to discuss the important distinction between anticipating change and merely reacting to it.

Advisers and investors must continually anticipate the evolution of the investment markets—which show little sign of losing their highly dynamic qualities—and act to seize a new set of opportunities and mitigate unforeseen challenges, Putnam Investments said.  

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“New Ways of Thinking,” Putnam’s awareness-building campaign, will officially begin on Monday, February 11, with a series of print, direct marketing and online advertising, and will use a host of content-driven, multi-media vehicles to communicate the need to incorporate modern, innovative investment approaches into more traditional investment models and mindsets in order to continually stay ahead of the curve.

“The marketplace needs to think today about tomorrow,” said Robert L. Reynolds, president and chief executive at Putnam Investments. “The past five years have brought extreme swings in market conditions, driven by a confluence of factors that left many investors shell-shocked and ill-prepared to either seize unprecedented investment opportunities or protect their portfolios from downside risk.”

(Cont’d…)

While staying ahead of market ups and downs has always been important, it needs to be clear to investors, their advisers and asset managers that embracing innovative thinking is no longer optional, but imperative, Reynolds said.

“The market environment for the foreseeable future demands that advisers and their clients build greater versatility and active risk management into their underlying portfolios, using a host of investment tools,” Reynolds said. Strategies may include combining benchmark-measured and benchmark-independent investments, global diversification with embedded downside protection to help navigate uncertain markets, and strategic use of alternative asset classes, he noted.

Putnam’s awareness-building efforts will focus on providing insight into the challenges facing advisers and investors, and encouraging them to consider new ways of thinking about investing, which could include taking a more targeted approach to investing, pursuing the best ideas and finding new drivers of return.

In addition to new print, direct marketing and online advertising, the firm will develop content-rich thought leadership through business seminars, industry events, and white papers on the marriage of traditional and alternative products, benefits of Sharpe ratio investing and active risk management, among other topics.

For more information, visit http://www.putnam.com.

 

 

PAi Embarks on ‘Cruise to Retirement’ Campaign

Cruise to Retirement is PAi’s campaign designed to help advisers jumpstart conversations about the ramifications of fee disclosure.

The campaign encourages advisers to ask PAi to complete a 401(k) plan fee comparison for a small business that doesn’t already have a retirement plan with PAi. There is no cost or obligation for the comparison.

Each plan sponsor who receives a comparison will be eligible to win a seven-day Caribbean cruise for two. There are also rewards for the financial adviser who submits the most plans for comparison.

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“Financial advisers have made 401(k) the only tax code Americans know,” said Michael Kiley, president and founder of PAi. “Fee comparisons provide an opportunity for an adviser to bring value to a customer locally while using an efficient open-architecture solution to reduce overall costs and improve the customer retirement outcome.”

Financial advisers are aware of the costs associated with 401(k) plans, Kiley said, but they may not realize that in the era of fee disclosure and open architecture, there are options in the 401(k) marketplace that have dramatically improved the value associated with a retirement plan.

“In today’s environment, a well-funded 401(k) is a critical element in the retirement security of American workers,” Kiley said. “It’s not complicated—in fact, most small-business owners can offer a retirement plan for about the cost of what they pay for a month of cable television. Plans can be installed online in minutes, enrolled in a week and in many cases can be integrated with payroll to cut down on monthly maintenance.” 

The Cruise to Retirement promotion runs through March 31. Complete contest rules and details are here.  

PAi, with headquarters in De Pere, Wisconsin, provides 401(k) administration and payroll processing for small businesses.

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