Products March 25, 2014

Brownstone Investment Bulks Up Services for RIAs

Registered investment advisers (RIAs) are the service target of Brownstone Investment Group, which specializes in fixed income, and expanded its services specifically for advisers. 
Reported by

Brownstone’s enhanced Advisor Services unit is integrated into the firm’s presence in the fixed-income marketplace. It will give RIAs access to a selection of fixed-income products, including high-yield, investment grade, distressed corporate, as well as emerging markets and municipal securities.

RIAs can gain immediate market information and transparent access to bids and offers via its new Web-based portal, Brownstone DIAL (Direct Independent Advisors Link).

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Brownstone’s Advisor Services will be led by longtime employee and senior salesperson, Bohn Vergari, who has more than 10 years experience providing service to the RIA community.

Brownstone DIAL is one facet of Brownstone’s enhanced services to the RIA community. The firm also will expand its RIA-focused relationship team, produce daily market commentary and add a portfolio evaluation component to its offering in the near future.

“This opens the market to the RIA, enabling him or her to get accurate and current information at their fingertips, something that was available previously only through expensive, subscription-based institutional tools,” says Douglas Lowey, CEO of Brownstone.

Brownstone Investment Group is a fixed-income investment firm.

More about Brownstone Advisor Services and Brownstone DIAL is available by emailing Bohn Vergari at bvergari@brownstone.com. 

The Markets March 25, 2014

Multiemployer Plans in Green Zone Declines Slightly

In 2013, a solid majority of multiemployer pension plans (59%) were in the green zone as defined by the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA).
Reported by

This represents a slight decline from the 60% in 2012 (see “Multiemployer Plan Health Declined in 2012”), according to Segal Consulting’s Survey of Plans’ 2013 Zone Status. The percentage of plans in the yellow zone (endangered status) was the same for 2013 as for 2012, at 14%.

Between 2012 and 2013, the percentage of plans in the red zone (critical status) increased from 26% to 27%.

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Despite the slight change, the average PPA’06 funded percentage for all surveyed plans was 84% in 2013, the same percentage as in 2012. Although the percentage of plans in the green zone has declined since 2011 (from 63%), by 2013 it was higher than in 2010 (53%) and dramatically higher than in 2009 (38%). According to the survey findings, one reason for the improvement since 2010 is the ongoing strengthening of the investment markets. For the nearly five years from April 1, 2009 (the bottom of the market) to December 31, 2013, the median return for Taft-Hartley pension funds with a 40% to 70% allocation to equities was 13.8%, according to Segal Rogerscasey (the SEC-registered investment solutions member of The Segal Group).

The zone-certification rules of PPA’06 will expire (sunset) for plan years beginning after December 31, 2014, unless Congress acts to extend or eliminate the deadline (see “Sunset of PPA Rule for Pensions Requires Clarification”).

The Segal Winter 2014 Report of Results from the Survey of Calendar-Year Plans’ 2013 Zone Status is available here.

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