Products & Services April 18, 2024

Product & Service Launches – 4/18/24

Durham to assist financial advisers with retirement income planning; Summit Financial bolsters private market investment platform amid demand; inVesti launches HSA to complement retirement offerings.

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Dunham & Associates Launches Retirement Planning Program

Dunham & Associates Investment Counsel Inc. has launched a new retirement income program free to use by financial advisers that incorporates its proprietary investment strategy.

The Dunham Retirement Income Program is designed to help financial advisers guide clients in their retirement planning objectives. The offering includes back-office support, trust services and financial planning tools combined with the San Diego-based firm’s investment strategy, DunhamDC.

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The offering includes:

  • Retirement planning: a retirement planning tool that looks to address income need, risk management, investing, behavioral finance, and other areas.
  • DunhamDC: the DunhamDC overlay offers an algorithmic investing approach inspired by Warren Buffett’s advice “to be fearful when others are greedy and to be greedy when others are fearful.” The strategy adjusts equity exposure based on market sentiment—reducing it when markets are trading high and increasing it when markets are trading down—with the goal of reducing sequence riskand accelerating recovery times.
  • Portfolios:the program offers portfolios tailored to specific needs; the Distribution portfolio seeks to secure 12 months of income in a cash account with up to $50 million of FDIC insurance. The Feeder portfolio includes the DunhamDC investment overlay with additional portfolio options for emergencies, healthcare, and legacy planning.
  • Back-office support: the firm automates the back office for the financial adviser and looks to help advisers prevent clients from making impulsive decisions during market volatility.
  • Insurance and alternative investment product integration: The program integrates with existing insurance and income products, such as annuities and long-term care plans.

“As a financial adviser, helping clients plan for retirement can sometimes feel like trying to solve a complex puzzle,” Salvatore M. Capizzi, executive vice president of Dunham, said a statement. “We created the Dunham Retirement Income Program to simplify this task for advisers and their clients alike, giving them a comprehensive set of tools for the financial adviser to provide their clients clear, straightforward guidance throughout the retirement planning journey.”

Summit Financial Bolsters Private Markets Offering

Summit Financial Holdings has enhanced its private marketing offerings for advisers to offer clients.

The enhanced offering introduces an open-architecture platform for private markets designed for advisers to seamlessly access a broad array of alternative investments. The firm said it is making the offering available at a time when financial advisers and high-net-worth clients are increasingly turning to alternative investments “in search of diversification and higher returns.”

The offering provides adviser access to investment platforms, including Opto Investments and Arch, and asset classes, such as private equity, private credit, real estate and venture capital. Summit can now also offer certain deals directly, providing clients with institutional share classes at lower minimums and fees.

Summit is also offering a “deep bench of investment professionals” to assist in designing model portfolios, along with mentorship sessions led by Summit advisers.

inVesti Financial Launches HSA Solution with UMB Bank

Workforce benefits provider inVesti Financial announced the integration of its recordkeeping services software with UMB Bank’s health care services.

The integration allows inVesti to offer a health savings account solution to its product lineup, which also includes 401(k)s and individual retirement accounts. The HSA will also allow participants to invest in a multitude of investments such as mutual funds and ETFs with Matrix Trust Company, Broadridge Retirement and Workplace’s custodial platform, according to the announcement. The HSA is available on both desktop and native devices.

“inVesti is very excited to have the opportunity to partner with both UMB and Matrix for this product build and we look forward to delivering real world solutions to a clearly underserved and fragmented market,” Tom Hansen, inVesti’s co-founder and CEO, said in a statement. “This integration not only offers an HSA but also ties together our retirement and self-assurance solutions with one dashboard, one login, and a proprietary communication engine to distribute necessary information across all those responsible for workplace retirement solutions.”

The inVesti recordkeeping system is an open architecture, multi-vendor, cloud-based financial software platform built to ease plan setup, enrollment and regulatory management.

Deals & People April 18, 2024

Ted Benna Joins Salt Labs as Strategic Adviser

The ‘Father of the 401(k)’ will drive Salt’s market strategy to support hourly workers.  

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Salt Labs, an employee rewards and incentives platform for frontline employees, announced that Ted Benna, the “Father of the 401(k),” has joined the team as a strategic adviser, driving the firm’s market strategy on supporting hourly workers.

“I’ve been thinking about how to address the savings issue with hourly workers for a long time, since the 401(k) requires a salary reduction that lower-paid hourly workers simply can’t afford to put away each month,” Benna said in a statement. “When I heard about what Salt Labs was doing, I knew they were onto something. We need novel and modern solutions to solve for a pending retirement crisis and Salt Labs has built just that for the most essential workers in our economy.”

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As a strategic consultant at Salt Labs, Benna will focus on developing a market strategy tailored for employers seeking to support their frontline staff with a rewards and incentives platform. He will also support the startup’s goal of helping employers achieve optimal outcomes with minimal expenditure.

Salt Labs aims to help frontline workers receive additional assets on top of their regular wages called “Salt,” which are earned with each hour worked. As this balance grows over time, workers can exchange their Salt for items of personal value, including investments such as individual retirement accounts, vacations or other items they may not have otherwise been able to afford.

“Financial wellness plans have been about helping employees brace for unexpected expenses or save for retirement; there hasn’t been anything in between,” Jason Lee, founder and CEO of Salt Labs, said in a statement. “I’m thrilled that Ted has chosen to work with us to help improve financial wellness outcomes for everyday Americans.”

According to Salt, its solution supports frontline workers’ financial wellness by creating a daily savings habit and a goal-setting framework. The firm found that 65% of current Salt users report they are working toward long-term saving objectives. Additionally, 91% of employees said they feel more financially secure after earning Salt.

The firm stated that the 401(k), which requires a salary reduction, was not designed as a savings mechanism for the hourly worker in mind. This employee population needs their salary for necessities like rent, food and bills, leaving no surplus for dedicated savings.

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