Investing

It also enables them to negotiate lower fees, Vanguard says.

Variable annuities continue to face challenges in the wake of transaction processing disruptions caused by the now-vacated DOL fiduciary rule; however, experts anticipate sales to recover as business processes normalize and newer product types come to market.

The vehicle has maintained the popularity vote since 2010.

A report based on data from participants in the Schwab Personal Choice Retirement Account says 18.7% of SDBA accounts were managed by an independent investment adviser.

SEI has been talking to TDF managers about deploying strategies within their investment lineup that mitigate the potential downside.

An announcement also notifies plan participants about revenue sharing paid to TIAA from some investment funds and says revenue sharing will be rebated to participants.

Take a couple that is healthy and retiring today at age 65; the probability of at least one member of this couple living to age 75 is 97%, and to 90, nearly 50%.

The latest though leadership from the firm asks an increasingly important question: “What should the TDF glide path look like as participants move from accumulating asset balances to spending down those balances in retirement?”

A review of industry commentary dissecting the DOL’s recently published Field Assistance Bulletin on the topic of ESG investments suggests the “sub-regulatory guidance” has left a lot of stakeholders with key questions.

Researchers from Vanguard say an investment that includes the bonds of all markets and issuers would theoretically benefit from the greater number of issues, securities, and markets, and their imperfect correlations through time, but they stress the importance of hedging against currency risk.

Besides providing investment advice, 88% of advisers think they need to guide clients through emotional decisions.

Data shared by FTSE Russell, taken from the firm’s annual smart beta survey, suggests the use of “multi-factor combination smart beta index-based investment strategies” by institutional investors has more than doubled since first measured in 2015.

Professional investment assistance helps DC plan participants’ outcomes; however, an analysis from Alight Solutions found users of managed accounts see higher returns, are more diversified and save more in their DC plans.

The flows went primarily to bond, stable value and money market funds.

This is the first dip since the third quarter of 2017, according to BNY Mellon

Market volatility weighed down returns, with Corporate Plans seeing a median first quarter loss of 0.78%.

A broad new Investment Company Institute analysis shows the expense ratios of target-date mutual funds have fallen 34% since 2008, alongside the expense ratios of most other types of long-term funds. 

PLANADVISER presents an impromptu Q&A with John Diehl, senior vice president of strategic markets for Hartford Funds, on the subject of market volatility and keeping a long-term perspective amid big equity price swings. 

Favorable equity market and interest rate forces resulted in a 2% increase in the average U.S. pension plan funded status during April.

In a Q&A with BlackRock Managing Director Anne Ackerley, PLANADVISER hears about emerging opportunities to deliver retirement income solutions to DC plan participants, including through TDFs.