Human Interest Advisors Offers CITs to Small, Midsize Businesses

Human Interest Advisors LLC, a registered investment adviser owned by Human Interest Inc., launched Wednesday a 3(38) investment fiduciary lineup that includes collective investment trusts from Great Gray Trust Co. LLC, with underlying investment in index solutions from BlackRock Inc.

Human Interest estimates that almost 675,000 participants in its model portfolios will save a combined $1.6 million to $2.4 million in fees next year, according to the press release.

According to the announcement, Human Interest’s CITs, available to more than 40,000 small and medium businesses, were 63% cheaper than the previously offered Vanguard mutual funds, as of August 30. Its model portfolios’ average fund net expenses decreased to 0.04-0.05% from 0.06-0.07%.

While CITs were initially restricted to retirement plans with at least a certain asset level, they have recently become increasingly popular with small defined contribution plans. According to ISS Marketplace Intelligence, CIT target-date funds had almost double the assets found in mutual fund TDF strategies by the end of 2024.

Human Interest Advisors will have tens of thousands of plans on a single 3(38) lineup, making it one of the first RIAs to enable such scale of access to CITs through a centralized platform, according to the announcement.

“We are creating a future where every American has access to the most efficient and effective tools for retirement savings,” said Ronnie Cox, Human Interest Advisors’ investment director, in a statement. “This is more than a product launch—it’s about changing the economic equation for retirement savers in the small and medium plan market.”

In August, Human Interest announced an investment of up to $50 million from Morgan Stanley and expanded its customer service guarantee; in September, it debuted an automated auditing process for midsize businesses’ 401(k) plans.