Products June 3, 2010

BofA Merrill Revitalizes Recordkeeping Platform

Bank of America Merrill Lynch has enhanced and renamed its small business retirement plan platform, MLConnect, to” more closely align with small business owners’ evolving challenges and priorities.”
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Now named Advisor Alliance, the platform was introduced in 2001 and has more than 40,000 clients and $23 billion in assets, serving more than 900,000 plan participants.

The recordkeeping platform, geared primarily at small and mid-sized business clients, offers a combination of investment screening and due diligence conducted by Merrill Lynch Wealth Management investment professionals and recordkeeping and retirement plan administration services from a group of Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s alliance partners.

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The company cited three main changes or updates to the Advisor Alliance platform:

  • Plan Sponsor Investment Review: Through a Web-based portal, financial advisers can review the investment performance of retirement plan funds and generate customizable quarterly investment review reports for small business owners. In addition to showing how funds are performing relative to their peers and, when appropriate, presenting alternative funds. The reports also include an in-depth look at recent market trends and commentary on individual asset classes and important factors that may impact the investment portfolio, as well as key retirement plan participant usage metrics.
  • Alliance Partner Governance and Expansion: Merrill Lynch financial advisers can select retirement and other benefit plan and investment options for a client from a group of preferred, nationally recognized partners made up of third-party administrators (TPAs) as well as payroll, insurance, and mutual fund providers. Bank of America Merrill Lynch said it performs due diligence–including a thorough review of platforms, business practices, and security protocols–on each of the alliance partner companies and also monitors and measures their ongoing performance. The company also said it is continuously searching for providers and programs to be added to the Advisor Alliance partner network.
  • Plan Design Options: Small businesses can select from a range of plan types, including 401(k), Roth 401(k), Safe Harbor 401(k), profit sharing, and 403(b) plans, as well as plan design features including automatic enrollment and automatic increase programs.

“The latest affirmation of our commitment to small business owners centers on improvements to our retirement solutions,” said Andy Sieg, head of Retirement & Philanthropic Services for Bank of America Merrill Lynch. “Advisor Alliance offers these owners a more flexible, personalized suite of retirement plan and investment services designed to help them simplify their lives and remain focused on their personal and business goals.”

According to Bank of America Merrill Lynch, more than 8,000 of the company’s 15,000 Merrill Lynch financial advisers work with small business owners to serve their retirement plan needs. Earlier this year, Bank of America Merrill Lynch introduced a Retirement Plan Referral Network of Merrill Lynch Financial Advisors with proven experience in serving business owners who have less than $10 million in retirement plan assets (see “BofA Merrill Introduces Retirement Plan Adviser Designation“).

Diversions June 3, 2010

Small Commutes + Big Houses = Happy Workforces

Depending on your definition of quality of life, Raleigh, North Carolina might be just what the doctor ordered for your small business.
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The Tar Heel capital topped a new list compiled by Portfolio.com, which calls itself the national business news site for small- and mid-sized-business executives.

“There are several factors that pushed Raleigh to the top of the list, with it being the only major market that’s expanding and growing at a rapid pace, resulting in a metropolitan population increase of 37% since 2000,” said G. Scott Thomas, a demographer who created the analyses for Portfolio.com. “Raleigh has a well-educated workforce and an impressive supply of high-level jobs, not to mention its low unemployment rate and its impressive array of big houses.”

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Well-Rounded Markets

Raleigh edged out two metropolitan areas that are substantially larger: Washington, D.C., at number two and Minneapolis-St. Paul at number three. The study compared the performances of America’s 67 biggest metropolitan areas in 20 statistical categories, and the highest scores went to well-rounded markets with healthy economies, moderate costs of living, light traffic, impressive housing stocks and high-powered educational systems.

Rounding out the top 10 were Bridgeport-Stamford, Connecticut; Salt Lake City; Denver; Seattle; Boston; Austin; and San Jose.

“We understand the difficulty of trying to get a business going in a new territory. By identifying the categories that define the best qualities of living, we hope that this will alleviate the uncertainties that SMB owners may have so that they could get the most out of a positive experience,” said J. Jennings Moss, editor of Portfolio.com, in announcing the results.

Two California markets ended up at the opposite end of the list with Bakersfield coming in last and Fresno a notch higher in 66th place. Also in the bottom five are New Orleans, Memphis, and Riverside-San Bernardino, California.

“Bakersfield has the highest poverty rate of any major market, as well as the lightest concentration of management and professional jobs, weakest inventory of big houses, and smallest percentages in the three educational categories that track adults with high school diplomas, bachelor’s degrees and advanced degrees,” added Thomas.  

Happy Workforce Attributes

If you’re looking for a happy workforce, Portfolio.com claims you can find it if you take a look at metros that have the most self-employed workers and the highest concentration of management and professional jobs. Rounding out the top five cities that have the most self-employed workers included Bridgeport-Stamford, Connecticut, with the highest percentage (14.3), followed by Oxnard-Thousand Oaks, California; Los Angeles; San Diego; and San Francisco-Oakland.

Washington, D.C., ranked as the number one metro with 50% of the population having management and professional jobs. Right behind Washington, D.C., were San Jose, Boston, Raleigh, and San Francisco-Oakland.

Other Factors

This study revealed that Omaha had the shortest commuting time to work (an average of 19.34 minutes), with Rochester, New York, Dayton, Buffalo, and Tulsa right behind. On the other hand, New York City recorded the longest average commuting time at 34.55 minutes.

The U.S. Uncovered series, new this year to Portfolio.com, provides analysis of the American lifestyle and business trends that it deems of interest to small- and mid-sized business executives.

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