hot off the presses

Participant and Sponsor Tools

A managed account solution from CoPiloted aims to help workers in 401(k) plans and individual retirement accounts (IRAs) assess risk levels, select investments and determine when to buy, sell and rebalance their accounts. Using information on current savings accounts and risk tolerance, CoPiloted provides participants with actionable recommendations, as well as personalized investment advice.

A new service from Principal Financial Group hopes to battle participant inertia by letting workers enroll in an employer-sponsored retirement plan via text message or through a new mobile quick-enroll website. After choosing a contribution amount by way of either option, new participants can make investment elections online or by phone. This can be done immediately or whenever the individual finds convenient.

Vanguard is partnering with HelloWallet—which uses behavioral economics to examine debt, as well as spending and saving behaviors—to help workers save more. Employees enter savings goals and priorities on a website or by mobile application (app). The financial wellness service can then create budgets, analyze trends in financial behavior and recommend ways to optimize use of 401(k) plans, health savings accounts (HSAs), flexible spending accounts (FSAs) or insurance.

A 408(b)(2) checklist customized by FRA PlanTools shows retirement plan sponsors what fee information they should receive from their covered service providers (CSPs). Plan sponsors are given detailed instructions, a color-coded copy of the 408(b)(2) regulations for reference and templates necessary to assist with compliance, such as a letter to send to a CSP who needs to supply required material.

Putnam Investments is putting more emphasis on strategies that can help investors pursue strong, risk-adjusted performance in volatile markets. The firm has relaunched its “New Ways of Thinking” campaign and will use various multimedia vehicles—including social media, mobile applications (apps) and blogs—to educate clients on the growth of new investment products that combine traditional, benchmark-measured investing with newer, benchmark-independent strategies.

The “Retirement Wellness Report” from Principal Financial Group helps retirement plan participants determine whether they are saving enough for retirement. An individualized report compares a participant’s estimated monthly retirement income with the income he will need each month in retirement. Simple illustrations show the impact of a deferral increase for those with an income gap. A related educational campaign, “Take the 10% Challenge,” is designed to encourage participants to defer at least that much of their salary annually to retirement savings.

Adviser Tools

LPL Financial LLC has updated its mobile application (app) with real-time financial headlines from Thomson Reuters; multimedia commentary from the LPL Financial Research team; a simplified user interface; updates on LPL’s Twitter feed; and integration of email, direct messaging, Twitter and Facebook.

Registered investment advisers (RIAs) can bundle essential plan services while preserving an open-architecture arrangement with TD Ameritrade’s turnkey solution to manage qualified defined contribution (DC) plans. The program includes account management tools and materials for advisers, enrollment and education support for employers, and planning tools and individual retirement account (IRA) rollover assistance for participants. Recordkeeping, asset custody and third-party administration (TPA) are from TD Ameritrade Trust Co.

The Principal Income Protector from Principal Financial Group helps advisers deliver post-retirement income solutions and advice. Employing a proprietary algorithm, the tool uses a participant’s financial information to develop an asset-allocation strategy that balances guaranteed income and future growth opportunities. Visualization technology helps advisers illustrate the importance of a sustainable post-retirement income stream.

Fidelity Financial Advisor Solutions has created an interactive calculator, the Fidelity Yield Investigator, to help advisers build fixed-income portfolios and understand the impact of rising and falling interest rates. It allows advisers to input hypothetical data such as bond yields, spreads and time horizons to see how a bond portfolio might perform in different market conditions.

Advisers receive a visual understanding of participant behavior in 401(k) plans with J.P. Morgan’s Plan Diagnostics Tool. Users can analyze positive and negative patterns in plan use across such metrics as age, salary and geography. Then, advisers can use the graphically displayed information to recommend that plan sponsors enact certain changes and develop targeted communication campaigns to motivate the savings habits of specific groups of employees.

Commonwealth Financial Network has updated its Investor360 platform. Version 4.0 was streamlined to be more user-friendly and features greater customization for affiliated advisers. The new platform tracks outside assets and gives clients a view of the financial information relevant to their saving and investing goals. Investor360 is designed to sync with the firm’s other platform solutions.

Investments

Russell Investments has implemented a series of strategic asset-allocation changes to several retail product offerings in the U.S. market, including the Russell LifePoints Funds, Target Portfolio Series and Russell Core Model Strategies. Changes reflect the firm’s expectations of modest global growth this year, which should see equities outperform cash and fixed income, despite some expected market volatility.

The Guardian Insurance & Annuity Company Inc. has added a stable value fund—the Federated Investors Capital Preservation Fund—to its Guardian Choice and Guardian Advantage fund lineups. The addition aims to preserve principal and generate high levels of current income by investing in guaranteed investment contracts, money market mutual funds and other stable value products.

Stadion Money Management has added a 401(k) managed account solution to Nationwide’s RIA [registered investment adviser] Managed Accounts Services Platform. Stadion uses exchange-traded funds (ETFs) as the primary underlying investment vehicles in the risk-based managed account solution. The funds are well-suited for a tactical asset-allocation strategy because of the vast market segments available to invest in, as well as improved transparency and liquidity compared with mutual funds.

John Hancock Investments has contractually lowered expenses for nearly all funds with class R6 institutional share classes, which are offered to qualified 401(k) plans, endowments and foundations. The firm says fund expenses have decreased, on average, by 8 basis points (BPS), and some have decreased expenses by up to 20 basis points. The changes affect 16 fixed-income funds.

Schwab Retirement Plan Services Inc. has unveiled a full-service 401(k) program based on low-cost exchange-traded funds (ETFs), with a built-in personalized saving and investment strategy through independent advisory services. Participants can receive ongoing investment management or manage their account themselves, either with the ETFs in the plan or by using a self-directed brokerage account, if the plan offers one.

Invesco PowerShares Capital Management LLC has debuted the PowerShares International BuyBack Achievers Portfolio to provide efficient access to international companies classified as International BuyBack Achievers. These companies have made a net reduction of at least 5% of their outstanding shares in the past 12 months and have met additional criteria of the underlying index provider, NASDAQ OMX Group.