Tag: Investment analytics

LifeYield LLC has rolled out a fully updated edition of the LifeYield Advantage Suite software, featuring the firm’s proprietary Taxficient Score.

According to the Alight Solutions 401(k) Index, June was a slow month for trading in defined contribution plans; when 401(k) investors made trades, they tended to favor fixed income.

Previewing two new Fiduciary Focus Toolkit reports that help plan advisers optimize their workflow, Fi360’s product strategy leader pointed to increased interest in fiduciary support among traditionally wealth-focused firms.

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 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?”

Speaking to attendees of the 2018 DataDisrupt conference in New York, Morningstar’s first chief data officer reflected on the recent creation of his role and what it says about the future of financial services.

“Personal data can tell you so much more beyond just providing insights into individual client behaviors. You can take these streams of data, clean them up and extract valuable insights that look across the book of business to highlight trends and challenges that are not really visible on a case-by-case basis.”

Firms have made strides in the previous decade in terms of adopting self-service, web-based solutions—but the existing “fixed decision tree” approach is not sufficient for the next evolution in client service.

Through a new strategic partnership boosting its direct-to-adviser footprint, LifeYield will make its proprietary Taxficient Score available to United Planners’ nearly 500 financial advisers.

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. 

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

The financial crisis resulted in severe declines in the funded status of most U.S. corporate pension funds resulting in almost universal pension deficits; companies’ various responses to the challenge offer some food for thought.

“There is no such thing as a passive glide path design, and this, as well as the many other active decisions that go into the creation and management of a TDF, can translate into meaningful differences in investment risks and results, even among passive TDFs,” observes Jake Gilliam at Charles Schwab.

A report from Greenwich Associates concludes that a move toward more systematic instrument selection would ultimately enhance fund returns by capturing alpha invisible to the naked eye.

The president and CIO of Ryan Labs describes in detail the mechanics behind the firm’s new defensive bond portfolio strategy—and the way his work continues to be shaped by the Pension Protection Act and MAP-21.

The Wells Fargo/Gallup Investor and Retirement Optimism Index remains at a 17-year high, despite a clear uptick in volatility, with the index at +139 in the first quarter; the firm’s head of retirement dissects the findings for PLANADVISER readers.

AlphaCore Launches Risk Factor Analytics Tool, and Franklin Resources Adds to Fixed Income Team.

The appellee, Market Synergy Group, argued unsuccessfully that its representatives would never be able to make the Best Interest Contract Exemption, a key mechanism underlying the new DOL fiduciary rule, workable.