Products February 6, 2008

Mesirow to Customize Diversified’s Target-Date Funds

Mesirow Financial Investment Strategies is working with Diversified Investment Advisors to customize and manage target maturity portfolios for Diversified's plan sponsor clients.
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The portfolios are available as an alternative investment solution that can be integrated into Diversified’s PortfolioXpress service and also fulfill Qualified Default Investment Alternative (QDIA) requirements for plan sponsors. Mesirow Financial customizes the target maturity portfolios using funds in a given plan lineup.

Mesirow Financial serves as investment manager to the portfolios, fulfilling the QDIA requirement and lessening the need for plan sponsors to carry the additional fiduciary responsibility, a company announcement said.

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“Our target maturity methodology is unique in that it not only takes into account a proper allocation for a targeted retirement date, but it also focuses on the issue of longevity risk, protecting investors from outliving their retirement savings,” said Michael Annin, managing director of Mesirow Financial Investment Strategies, in the release.

In Practice February 6, 2008

USF Introduces Pricing Strategy for Wirehouse FAs Going Independent

US Fiduciary, Inc. (USF) has rolled out a new pricing strategy for wirehouse advisory teams going independent.
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The strategy replicates the wirehouse pricing model for financial advisers and their clients while not burdening the adviser with all of the added expenses of being independent, USF said in a company announcement.

The firm pointed out that historically, as an independent adviser, expenses such as trading, performance reporting costs, and access to managers and products are charged at retail-like pricing, which diminishes profitability for the adviser. By USF covering all of these expenses, it creates a much smoother transition from the wirehouse.

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“We have also drawn upon the experience and insights of our entire team to build a pricing model and platform that facilitate the transition from a wirehouse environment to independence,” Bob Drake, the President and Chief Operating Officer of US Fiduciary, stated in the announcement.

Drake and Jeff Sills, one of USF’s Senior VPs and Divisional Officers, said USF has developed a process called Discovery through which it is able to assist the wirehouse rep in looking at their practice as a stand-alone business entity. USF can counsel advisers on what environment would be most beneficial to them, given their current business structure, and what strategic adjustments are available to them that would make their business structure more productive and profitable, Sills noted.

Additionally, US Fiduciary announced it recently became a signatory to the Broker Protocol, originally conceived by Merrill Lynch, Smith Barney, UBS, and Morgan Stanley to protect their transitioning reps from the certain temporary restraining orders and lawsuits from the firm losing the transitioning broker. As a signatory to the Protocol, US Fiduciary and its reps will adhere to the steps in the Protocol.

More information can be found at http://www.usfiduciary.com.

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