Products May 16, 2012

Pulse Logic Unveils Plan Adviser Tool for Services and Fees

 

Pulse Logic introduced a benchmarking tool to help plan advisers assess the services they provide and what fees are appropriate.

 

 

Reported by

The Pulse Logic Plan Advisor Services and Fees Guide was developed with input from an advisory panel of advisers and surveys of more than 490 specialist plan advisers. The tool provides guidance based on plan size and service requirements to guide plan advisers in determining the services they provide and the fees to charge plan sponsor clients, taking into consideration an adviser’s expertise and services.

“Before we began to collect the data behind this tool, we talked with numerous plan advisers,” said Ken Cochrane, Pulse Logic’s  managing director. “What we heard was that the tools available were not meeting the needs of advisers. The ranges of fees were too wide, and the data on services lacked clarity. Thatʼs why we started with an advisory panel to make sure we built as meaningful a tool as possible.”

Want the latest retirement plan adviser news and insights? Sign up for PLANADVISER newsletters.

The tool was built using data gathered from online surveys and interviews of broker/dealers (wirehouse, regional and independent) and advisers. Pulse Logic says it will update the tool quarterly.

More information is available at www.pulse-logic.com.

 

Diversions May 16, 2012

More Consumers Curling Up with Tablets than E-Readers

 

E-book consumers are more often choosing tablets, while e-readers drop in popularity, according to a book industry group survey.

 

 

Reported by

It’s not just what people are reading—it’s how they’re reading. Over the course of just six months, consumers’ top choice for dedicated e-readers such as Amazon’s Kindle and Barnes & Noble’s NOOK slipped, from 72% to 58%. Tablet devices are now the most preferred reading device for more than 24% of e-book buyers, up from fewer than 13% in August 2011, according to the Consumer Attitudes Toward E-Book Reading, a survey by the Book Industry Study Group.

And the rise in tablet preference is not primarily for the iPad (which rose by just over 1%), but for other tablets—overwhelmingly for Amazon’s Kindle Fire and Barnes & Noble’s NOOK tablet. Sales of non-Apple devices went up, from 5% to 14%, over the same period.

Want the latest retirement plan adviser news and insights? Sign up for PLANADVISER newsletters.

The study shows the buoyancy of the book market.  Nearly 30% of respondents in the February survey reported an increase in dollars spent on books in all formats since they began acquiring e-books, while nearly 50% reported an overall rise in titles purchased in any format. The numbers are even rosier for e-books: more than 62% of respondents reported an uptick in dollars spent on e-books, and more than 72% said they have increased the volume of e-titles they are buying. Some publishers are reporting that even when overall revenue has slipped, profitability—particularly for e-books—has risen.

The Book Industry Study Group’s survey was conducted by Bowker Market Research, which polled 1,000 e-book readers about their attitudes toward e-books and e-reading in February. Study results are based on a nationally representative panel of book consumers (men, women, and teens) who had either purchased a digital book or e-book or owned a dedicated e-reader device (such as Kindle, NOOK or Sony Reader.

 

«