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.
Under the paradigm created by the Supreme Court’s ruling in a case known as Fifth-Third v. Dudenhoeffer, plaintiffs continue to have difficulty proving standing in ERISA stock drop cases.
As an investment professional or a client, there are a lot of reasons to feel positive about the topic of environmental and socially minded investing, but new Cerulli research offers a reminder that not all “ESG” funds are created equal.
This compares to 8.93% for the average fund, making a shortfall of 0.61 percentage points, Morningstar says.
In a frank conversation with PLANADVISER, Andrew Biggs points to some common misconceptions about retirement income replacement among lower income groups.
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?”
Data shared by FTSE Russell, taken from the firm’s annual smart beta survey, suggests the use of “multi-factor combination smart beta index-based investment strategies” by institutional investors has more than doubled since first measured in 2015.
About one in three Americans have less than $5,000 in retirement savings, and one in five have no individual private retirement savings at all, according to a new Northwestern Mutual study.
By the end of the calendar year 2017, the discount rate used by companies sponsoring pension plans in the S&P 500 had fallen to the lowest level measured in Goldman Sachs Asset Management’s long-running pension research series; at the same time, sponsors are making large voluntary contributions to take advantage of disappearing tax incentives.
The demand for 3(38) investment manager search support and monitoring has moved up market into the range of plans with billions of dollars in assets; smaller plans are seeking cost savings while larger plans are seeking deeper expertise and nimble capabilities.
Anne Ackerley, head of BlackRock’s defined contribution business, sat down last week with PLANADVISER to offer a sneak peek at the DCIO provider’s latest DC Pulse Survey; the data shows increased confidence among plan participants, while sponsors have emerging decumulation concerns.
Highlights from a new Natixis survey suggest reporting challenges continue to rank as top hurdle for institutions implementing ESG programs; this includes the concern that public companies may be “greenwashing” reported data to enhance their public image.
"In our experience, the way bond managers speak provides insight into their true thinking, underlying skills and biases," write Brett Wander and Jake Gilliam, two investing team leaders at Charles Schwab. "When we look for bond managers as sub-advisers, there are things we like to hear, but there are also things managers say that immediately trigger our alarms."
Strong stock market gains and a decrease in unemployment boost AICPA’s Personal Financial Satisfaction Index to a record high in the 24 years the trade group has been conducting this survey.
Few retirement plan investors may actually mirror their portfolios to a U.S. total market index—but there are still some important implications to be found in the record-setting performance of the Wilshire 5000, beyond the relative growth of small-cap and large-cap.