Tag: Managed Accounts & QDIAs

A paper from Morningstar Investment Management lays out a framework for advisers and plan sponsors to determine the qualified default investment alternative (QDIA) that is the best fit...

New Cerulli research shows the most common reason for which 401(k) plan sponsors offer participants a managed account service is that it can be positioned as a retirement...

Research from Cerulli Associates finds plan sponsors must position managed accounts as a service, in order to change its costly product reputation.  

A Mercer white paper says defined contribution plan sponsors should focus on ensuring sound plan management and establishing success measures, among other things.

Swerdlin & Company Integrates Stadion Storyline; Vanguard Offers First U.S. Actively Managed ETF Suite; and AAM Enters U.S. ETF Market with New Dividend Funds; and more. 

But among the 58% of these investors who do, expectations run high.

Participants age 50 and older need more personalized advice, advisers say.

They are finding this results in better performance and reduced litigation risk.

The complaint suggests the companies engaged in “Tammany-like” collusion to steer assets into more favorable investments; both providers have issued strong denials and requests for summary judgement. 

Most executives interviewed by Cerulli believe that home-office discretion will increase as “underperforming advisers are identified and persuaded to use portfolios created by the headquarters consulting group.”

DC plan sponsor clients can leverage both TDFs and managed accounts together to maximize outcomes.

Some industry experts believe managed account performance should not be benchmarked against an index but instead against an investor’s unique individual goals.

Investors widely report that a particular life event, such as a marriage or a child being born, prompted the first use of a managed account. 

Providers are enhancing managed accounts with new features and are seeking to maximize the benefits of these solutions in order to outweigh their costs. 

The firm’s new Index-based managed account will track a market benchmark using index funds from the employer’s 401(k) lineup.

The package provides access to human advisers as well as an automated managed account built with ETFs from Schwab and other providers.

Research from Cerulli Associates warns consumers broadly do not understand liquid alternative investments—what they are made of or how they are supposed to function.