Products June 2, 2017

Lincoln Offers Morningstar 3(38) Fiduciary Service to Clients

With the new service, retirement plan sponsors have the flexibility to select from a broad universe of investments that follow Morningstar Investment Management’s asset-class rules and are within its fiduciary coverage universe.
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Lincoln Financial Group is offering Morningstar Investment Management LLC’s new flexible 3(38) fiduciary service to all of its clients, providing a new option for existing clients as well as for new plans looking for enhanced fiduciary support.

With the new service, the plan sponsor has the flexibility to select from a broad universe of investments that follow Morningstar Investment Management’s asset-class rules and are within its fiduciary coverage universe. Morningstar Investment Management will then assume responsibility for selecting, monitoring and replacing investment options within the plan, as necessary, which can mean fewer changes to a plan lineup and a simplified transition.

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“In this changing regulatory environment, providing our clients with the fiduciary support they want and need is critical,” says Ralph Ferraro, head of Product for Retirement Plan Services at Lincoln Financial Group. “Our introduction of the new Flexible 3(38) service demonstrates our commitment to ensuring advisers, consultants and employers can provide a tailored lineup of funds to their clients and employees.”

Ferraro adds: “This innovative solution makes it easier than ever for an adviser or an employer to get started with Lincoln Financial, and help their employees save for retirement. Our clients should have easy access to this level of fiduciary support, and with the strong investment menu being offered, we are helping plan sponsors provide a retirement plan that is designed to help drive positive outcomes for their participants.”

Products June 2, 2017

BlackRock Enhances Retirement Income Tool

The iRetire platform now has decumulation-projection capabilities.
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BlackRock has developed iRetire, a platform which can generate an accumulation and decumulation framework for estimated sustainable retirement income, which financial advisers can tailor to each client’s circumstances and preferences.

iRetire is backed by Aladdin, a global multi-asset technology platform as well as CoRI, Blackrock’s series of retirement income indexes. The platform launched in 2015, and its new decumulation capabilities aim to help advisers guide clients through spending phases in retirement.

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Once the client reaches retirement age, an adviser can use the tool to help them understand how much estimated sustainable income they could spend from their portfolio each year during retirement to help meet their goals. iRetire also allows advisers to adjust portfolios or add inputs in real-time to illustrate the potential impact to estimated sustainable spending that may result from making a change.

“Helping investors generate and maintain sustainable retirement income has been referred to as the ‘silver bullet’ of retirement planning, and a truly effective solution has eluded advisers and investors for decades,” says Frank Porcelli, chairman of BlackRock’s U.S. Wealth Advisory business. “iRetire empowers advisers to help clients manage their journey with the help of a powerful, integrated approach that not only helps clients accumulate retirement savings, but also deploy those assets throughout retirement.”

He adds, “The need for financial advice is greater than ever as savers face global and geopolitical uncertainty, prolonged low interest rates, and longer lifespans. At the same time, the wealth management industry is undergoing rapid transformation as a result of changing demographics, new regulations and technological advances. iRetire is designed to powerfully respond to all of these forces, leveraging BlackRock’s industry-leading technology and insights to enable advisers to demonstrate their value to clients by facilitating a deeper dialogue.”

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