Products May 9, 2014

OMYEN Upgrades Social Security Tool

Financial planning technology provider OMYEN Corp. recently upgraded its Social Security Maximizer software and will provide free training on maximizing benefit payments from the federal program.
Reported by

The upgrades bring several new functionalities to the maximizer software, including more robust Social Security planning capabilities for divorced or widowed beneficiaries. The upgraded maximizer can also support planning efforts for those expecting to draw Social Security benefits while taking care of children or other dependents.

The tool’s planning process has been streamlined to allow financial advisers to more easily add or select a client within the system, OMYEN explains. This should benefit thousands of financial advisers and clients already using the free Social Security Maximizer software, which debuted earlier this year (see “OMYEN Releases Social Security Software”).

Never miss a story — sign up for PLANADVISER newsletters to keep up on the latest retirement plan adviser news.

In another upgrade, the Social Security Maximizer is being integrated into the firm’s comprehensive Wealth Planner system, used by financial advisers, which will allow clients’ finalized Social Security plan to be merged with the overall retirement income picture.

Financial advisers interested in using OMYEN’s Social Security Maximizer tool can sign up for free here.

Compliance May 9, 2014

BlackRock Smacked With Fees Suit

Timothy Davidson, a money manager in Florida, said in a potential class action suit that BlackRock Advisors charged disproportionately high investment advisory fees.
Reported by

Davidson, trustee for the West Putnam Avenue Trust, filed the suit on behalf of himself and all other shareholders, similarly situated, of the BlackRock Global Allocation Fund under Section 36(b) of the Investment Company Act of 1940. Defendants are BlackRock Advisors, BlackRock Investment Management and BlackRock International Ltd.

The suit alleges a breach of fiduciary duty. According to the complaint, BlackRock charged and received investment advisory fees that are “so disproportionately large that they bear no reasonable relationship to the services rendered and could not have been the product of arm’s-length bargaining.”

For more stories like this, sign up for the PLANADVISERdash daily newsletter.

Further, the suit alleges that the overall subadviser’s fee assesssed by BlackRock is significantly higher—as much as $51 million more—than the fees negotiated at arm’s length by BlackRock Investment Management with other clients for the same or substantially similar investment advisory services.

As a result of these excessive fee rates, the fund has paid much more in fees each year than it would pay for investment advisory services had the fee arrangement been negotiated at arm’s length. “It is generally accepted in the mutual fund industry that it is not harder to manage a fund simply because it is bigger,” the complaint states.

The Brualdi Law Firm is acting on behalf of the plaintiffs. The case was filed in U.S. District Court in New Jersey.

According to widely published media reports, Davidson was a winner in the Connecticut state Powerball lottery along with two other executives of Belpointe Asset Management in 2011, but he subsequently asserted to friends in messages that he was not the winner. Davidson later admitted he was the holder of the winning lottery ticket, and the three money managers formed a trust to accept the after-tax payment of around $104 million.

«