Products January 11, 2007

Barclays Expands iShares Fixed-Income ETF Offering

Barclays Global Investors (BGI) announced Thursday that eight new iShares fixed income exchange-traded funds (ETFs) began trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
Reported by

This brings the number of fixed income iShares products to a total of 14 funds that cover the treasury and credit markets.

“The iShares fixed income funds also provide investors with greater trading flexibility than traditional bond mutual funds to implement their market views,’ said Lee Kranefuss, CEO of BGI’s Intermediary and ETF Business, in a press release. “Investors can place limit and stop-loss orders on ETFs that allow investors to better time entry and exit into the market.’

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The eight funds and their ticker symbols are listed as follows:

  • iShares Lehman Short Treasury Bond Fund (SHV)
  • iShares Lehman 3-7 Year Treasury Bond Fund (IEI)
  • iShares Lehman 10-20 Year Treasury Bond Fund (TLH)
  • iShares Lehman 1-3 Year Credit Bond Fund (CSJ)
  • iShares Lehman Intermediate Credit Bond Fund (CIU)
  • iShares Lehman Credit Bond Fund (CFT)
  • iShares Lehman Intermediate Government/Credit Bond Fund (GVI)
  • iShares Lehman Government/Credit Bond Fund (GBF)

The iShares Funds are index funds that are bought and sold like common stocks on securities exchanges, and are attractive to many individual and institutional investors and financial intermediaries because of their relative low cost, tax efficiency and trading flexibility, the release stated.

Investors can purchase and sell shares through any brokerage firm, financial adviser, or online broker, and hold the funds in any type of brokerage account.

Products January 11, 2007

Newkirk Adds Gap Analysis to Retirement Communication Suite

Newkirk has added a feature to its SmartSingles retirement plan communication suite that calculates how much plan participants will need to defer to have sufficient income upon retirement.
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The Albany, New York-based company said that the new Gap Analysis feature uses a participant’s current deferral rate, account balance and salary, together with estimated Social Security payments and sponsor matching contributions, to determine whether the participant’s income at retirement will be sufficient to meet a user-specified replacement percentage. The typical percentage is 80%.

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If the analysis finds a disparity between what the participant needs to retire and what the participant will have based on current deferral rates, it will propose a deferral percentage that will eliminate the gap.

“Seeing that your current deferral rate will not generate sufficient retirement income, even when coupled with Social Security, is a powerful motivator to save more,” said Peter Newkirk, president of Newkirk, in a press release. “And that’s an important message that sponsors and providers alike are eager to convey.”

The company provides participant and sponsor communications for retirement plan providers and third party administrators. For more information about the Gap Analysis product go to www.newkirk.com.

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