The Markets April 13, 2016

Endowment Index Posts Gain in Q1 2016

The Index is used for portfolio comparison, investment analysis, research and benchmarking purposes by trustees, portfolio managers, consultants and advisers to defined benefit/defined contribution plans, pension plans and individual investors.
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The Endowment Index calculated by Nasdaq OMX increased 1.24% (on a total return basis) for the quarter ended March 31, 2016, closing at 1,012.60. By comparison, the S&P 500 gained 1.35% for the same period. 

Thirteen of the Index’s 19 components provided a positive return for the first quarter. While gold was the single best performing overall asset class (+16.4%) for the quarter, the Index components providing the best overall return attributions were global metals & mining (+0.28%), hedge strategies (+0.26%), equity-emerging markets (+0.24%), and domestic real estate (0.19%). Of the six components that posted a negative return attribution, emerging markets-China (-0.60%) and international developed equities (-0.21%) were the most significant.

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Visit www.endowmentIndex.com to download an Index fact sheet or spreadsheet containing longer-term performance information.

The Index is used for portfolio comparison, investment analysis, research and benchmarking purposes by fiduciaries such as trustees, portfolio managers, consultants and advisers to endowments, foundations, trusts, defined benefit/defined contribution plans, pension plans and individual investors. It is a total return index and all underlying components are comprised of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or other investable securities.

The Endowment Multi Asset ETF Allocation, a collective investment trust available for use in defined contribution (DC) plans and managed by ETF Model Solutions, employs a passive investment approach based upon the Endowment Index.

Products April 13, 2016

Millennium Trust Company Updates Auto-Rollover Services

Millennium Trust Company specializes in helping plan sponsors, participants and advisers find and process missing retirement accounts. 
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Automatic retirement account rollover solutions provider Millennium Trust Company launched a free search tool to help individuals find unclaimed retirement funds that may have been rolled over to a Millennium Trust IRA account from a previous employer.

Terry Dunne, managing director of the Rollover Solutions Group at Millennium Trust, points to Department of Labor statistics showing that at the end of 2013, about 16 million people still had retirement assets in a former employer’s retirement plan.

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“A significant percentage of these assets may represent missing, non-responsive participant assets,” Dunne says. “We have a comprehensive set of procedures in place to search for missing account holders. And we’re fairly successful. We find the correct address for roughly 90% of the individuals who are missing or non-responsive at the time their account is rolled over to us.”

The firm’s newest online search tool “will help us to connect with more of them. It is a simple and free method for individuals to determine if they have an IRA account at Millennium Trust and reclaim their retirement funds.”

More information on using the free online tool is here. The tool requires users to enter their Social Security number, but “complete privacy is assured,” the firm says, “and the system returns immediate results. If individuals have any unclaimed retirement funds, they can choose to complete online forms to either keep their account with Millennium Trust or take a distribution.”

“It’s in everyone’s best interest—both plan sponsors and employees—to ensure that no retirement funds go unclaimed,” Dunne concludes. “We are pleased to provide this resource and encourage anyone who has lost track of a retirement account at a former employer, to come to our site and search for unclaimed funds.”

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