Products December 5, 2007

Retirement Plan Advisers Get New Marketing Tool from AIM

AIM Investments has launched a new marketing program for financial advisers to learn about and develop a business strategy for the 401(k) marketplace.
Reported by

The new module in the AIM PlanForward program is titled Understanding Retirement Plan Fees and Expenses.

This new module intends to help advisers:

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  • Understand and discuss fees and expenses associated with retirement plans;
  • Assist plan sponsors with evaluating plan fees and expenses;
  • Assist in establishing and providing an objective process to monitor plan fees and expenses;
  • Assist plan sponsors with managing the plan’s investment options with a thorough review as detailed in the investment policy statement;
  • Consistently review expenses for services and the investment options; and
  • Educate sponsors and participants so they can make informed decisions.

The PlanForward program is product neutral and is designed to help financial advisers communicate and demonstrate their value to plan sponsors. This new module follows the first five in the series, which cover other retirement plan topics including: managing fiduciary liability, educating participants, conducting plan reviews, educating newer financial advisers about the retirement market and helping advisers move upmarket.

“The sixth module in our PlanForward series offers multiple tools and resources to help retirement plan financial advisers better understand plan fees and expenses, a compelling attribute given recent regulatory developments,” said Terry Kelly, National Sales Manager-Retirement Division of A I M Distributors, Inc, in a press release.

Products December 5, 2007

AMEX Gets Another SPDR

State Street Global Advisors (SSgA), the investment management arm of State Street Corporation, says that a new high yield exchange traded fund began trading yesterday.
Reported by

According to a press release, the SPDR Lehman High Yield Bond ETF (ticker: JNK) began trading on the American Stock Exchange on December 4, 2007.

Featuring an expense ratio of 0.40%, the SPDR Lehman High Yield Bond ETF seeks to track the total return performance of the Lehman Brothers High Yield Very Liquid Index. The press release notes that the index includes high yield taxable corporate bonds that have a remaining maturity of at least one year, are generally rated below investment grade (Ba1/BB+/BB+ or below, commonly referred to as “junk bonds”), and have $600 million or more of outstanding face value.

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As of October 31, 2007, the Index provided exposure to 105 issues.

Other Offerings

State Street Global Advisors has managed fixed income index funds since 1984. Today, the firm manages more than $244 billion in total fixed income globally and more than $134 billion3 in ETF assets worldwide, according to the press release. Recent fixed income ETF launches include an international treasury bond fund ETF (see SSgA Launches International Treasury Bond ETF), and the first ETF to offer investors exposure to the national short-term municipal bond market (see SSgA Adds Three Fixed Income ETFs).

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