Deals & People May 14, 2013

Guardian Retirement Adds Regional Sales VPs

Michael Fennessy, John Jennings and Jonathon Matson were named regional vice presidents of retirement plan sales at The Guardian Insurance & Annuity Company Inc.
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Fennessy will focus on retirement sales in Alaska, Washington, Oregon and northern Idaho. He brings 13 years of experience in financial services to Guardian, most recently as the regional sales director for Great-West Retirement Services. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business management from Bloomberg University and a master’s of business administration in finance from St. Joseph’s University. He holds Series 7, 6 and 63 licenses.

Jennings, with more than 13 years of retirement plan industry experience, will be responsible for developing a wide range of retirement business through nonproprietary channels throughout Los Angeles and Ventura counties in California. Formerly a regional sales director at The Hartford, Jennings holds a bachelor’s of business administration in economics and finance at the University of Oklahoma’s Price College of Business. He holds Series 3, 31, 63, 65, 7, life, health, and insurance licenses.

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Matson will be in charge of retirement sales in Arizona, New Mexico and Oklahoma. He brings more than seven years of industry experience with a wide and varied background to his role at Guardian. He holds a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Arizona State University as well as Series 6 and 63 licenses.

The Markets May 14, 2013

Stock and Bond Funds Maintained Strong Pace in April

Stock and bond funds maintained a strong pace of net inflows during April, netting nearly $50 billion (including exchange-traded funds or ETFs), according to Strategic Insight, an Asset International company.
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The first four months of 2013 attracted $293 billion of net intake in total for stock and bond funds and ETFs, roughly 50% more than net flows experienced during the same period last year. Equity funds specifically have attracted $175 billion through April, three times the pace experienced in 2012.

“Overall, we observe two great rotations in the mutual fund industry (not just one). One, from $10 trillion+ zero-yield cash to other income vehicles, mostly bond funds. Another, from uninvested money to capital appreciation vehicles, as investors re-engage and move up their personal risk curve,” said Avi Nachmany, Strategic Insight’s director of research. “Both trends are likely to continue.”

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“While spiking stock prices explains some of the hesitation among some stock fund investors lately, dollar-cost averaging remains an attractive long-term strategy,” added Nachmany. “Indeed, as time horizons of most stock investors saving for retirements are measured in decades not months, it is reassuring to observe that since early 2000, stock fund investors earned over $2 trillion in profits, during years of bubbles, price collapse, recessions, and recoveries.”

According to Strategic Insight, stock and bond funds attracted $39 billion in April, bringing year-to-date total to $232 billion. U.S. equity funds attracted flows of $9 billion in April, bringing annual intake thus far to $58 billion, a significant turnaround from the anxiety that plagued stock funds since 2008.

In addition, lifecycle mutual funds (target-date and target-risk) assets grew to $784 billion in April. Target-date mutual fund assets accounted for $538 billion and netted $28 billion of net flows during the first four months of 2013.

Mutual fund share classes designated specifically for defined contribution retirement plans (often referred to as R-shares) grew to $596 billion across strategies. “As 401(k) plans and other defined contribution plans cement themselves as the default retirement savings vehicle for most Americans, product providers’ focus on distributing to these plans has become more pronounced,” said Bridget Bearden, head of Strategic Insight’s defined contribution research.

Exchange-traded products (including ETNs) attracted $8 billion of net intake in April. Stock-oriented products accounted for $1 billion of ETP inflows (inflows elsewhere were matched by net redemption among gold and emerging market ETFs), while taxable bond ETPs attracted $7 billion of monthly net flows.

For additional information, visit http://www.SIonline.com.

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