Products May 21, 2008

Principal Tool Helps Employees Use Benefit Programs

A new online tool from Principal shows employees how to best utilize their employer-sponsored benefit package.
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My Principal Edge Milestones is an interactive program that analyzes financial needs and gives employees a roadmap to help meet their goals, according to a news release from Principal. Milestones helps employees of plan customers identify shortfalls in saving for retirement and shows gaps in other financial needs.

“It’s little wonder 66% of American workers say they have not conducted an analysis of their financial needs in the past three years,’ said Luke Vandermillen, National Director of Worksite Solutions for the Principal Financial Group, in the release. “Making financial decisions is complex and calculators often require more information than they have at their fingertips. With Milestones, employees can develop a plan with as little as four pieces of information. What they get in return is a one-page, personalized timeline with simple steps that help them take action.”

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Available online or at the worksite, early use of the tool showed double-digit increases in benefit participation, Principal said. In 2007, employees took some 40,000 benefit plan actions after using Milestones during 68,000 one-on-one worksite meetings.

Milestones works alone or with one-on-one worksite meetings with salaried benefits experts. Employees see how the benefit plans offered by their employer work together to help them plan for the future, the release said.

For more information about Milestones and to check out a simplified version of the tool, visit www.principal.com.

Products May 20, 2008

Fidelity Launches Emerging Europe, Middle East, Africa Fund

Fidelity Investments launched a new international equity fundâ€″Fidelity Emerging Europe, Middle East, Africa (EMEA) Fundâ€″with retail and adviser share classes.
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Fidelity EMEA Fund seeks capital appreciation and normally invests at least 80% of its assets in securities of emerging Europe, Middle East, and Africa issuers and other investments that are tied economically to the EMEA region, according to a press release. The fund compares its performance to the MSCI Emerging Markets Europe, Middle East and Africa (MSCI EMEA) Index.

Adam Kutas, a 12-year Fidelity veteran who previously co-managed Fidelity Latin America Fund, manages the EMEA fund from Fidelity Management and Research Company’s London office.

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Kutas cited a number of factors to why the fund will be beneficial for some clients: “First, there are an ever-growing number of EMEA companies with solid earnings growth that, importantly, now represent significant market capitalization. Second, we’ve found that many of these EMEA companies are under-researched and under-followed by investors. And third, we’ve assembled a dedicated team of analysts here in London that provides us with extensive resources to closely cover the region across its many different market sectors, including energy, financials, telecommunications, materials, and health care, among others.”

EMEA forms a contiguous region that combines more than 80 countries beginning with Russia in the East, continuing through Eastern Europe and the Middle East, and encompassing the entire African continent, Fidelity said.

Kutas added that the long term macro trends in the EMEA region—global demand for oil and natural resources, rapid urbanization, infrastructure investment, and consumer growth—offer substantial growth opportunities over the long term.

For more information, visit https://advisor.fidelity.com.

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