Products February 25, 2013

Alta, Folio Team to Offer Collective Investment Funds

Alta Trust Company announced it has partnered with custodian Folio Institutional for investment managers seeking to establish collective investment funds.  
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Collective investment funds give registered investment advisers (RIAs) a vehicle to distribute their investment strategies to qualified retirement plans across the country. In the past, these funds have been expensive to establish, but Alta Trust makes collective investment funds available and affordable to any RIA firm. With a collective investment fund, Folio advisers can manage one account for the benefit of an unlimited number of retirement plans.

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Folio’s custody and trading platform combined with Alta Trust’s cost-effective solution for collective investment funds is sure to help grow assets under management for advisers, said Mark Ponder, president and chief executive of Alta Trust. “The relationship will improve investment outcomes for retirement plan participants—a true win-win,” Ponder said.

According to Greg Vigrass, president of Folio Institutional, the firm has been seeing demand from advisers for innovative ways to deliver investment expertise efficiently and cost effectively, and to a growing base of qualified plans. “This service is another way to expand the possibilities,” Vigrass said.

Folio Institutional is a custody and portfolio management service. Alta Trust is a financial services firm that acts as trustee for collective investment funds.

More information is at Alta Trust Company’s website.

Data & Research February 22, 2013

Social Media a Financial Education Source for Many

One-quarter (26%) of U.S. adults use social media for personal finance and investing purposes, according to Cogent research.
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This rises to 34% for affluent investors. While most investors continue to rely on a variety of resources for investment information, nearly 70% have reallocated investments, or began or altered relationships with investment providers, based on content found through social media, the study found.  

Investors who use social media for personal finance and investing purposes are using various platforms to form first impressions about providers and inform their decision to use a firm’s investment solutions. Regardless of the platform, investors primarily turn to social media to conduct research on investing, products and companies, or to seek advice regarding investment decisions.  

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This reflects the importance of a strong social media strategy for asset managers and distributors, Cogent said.   

Cogent’s findings are included in a new report, “Social Media’s Impact on Personal Finance and Investing.” The report is based on a nationally representative survey of more than 4,000 investors with more than $100,000 in investable assets. 

The study identifies the financial brands with the greatest exposure on each network—company blogs, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube—and analyzes investors’ impressions of their content, as well as its influence on perceptions and connection to specific brands.  

Information about purchasing the report is here.

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