Deals & People July 11, 2011

Sentinel Benefits Acquires Schloss & Company

Eugene Schloss, founder of Schloss & Company, is retiring after 39 years of providing retirement planning solutions to clients in Long Island, New York.
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Sentinel  Benefits & Financial Group (Sentinel), a Focus Financial partner firm, announced the acquisition of Schloss & Company. Schloss’ existing management team, whose members have served an average of 20 years at the firm, will continue to provide consultation services to its clients.

“We selected Schloss because of the team’s long-standing record of excellent client service and delivery.  In addition, the firm’s in-depth knowledge of the local market will help us continue our growth in this geographic area and provide an excellent complement to Sentinel’s already existing New York City offices,” said John Carnevale, President and CEO of Sentinel Benefits & Financial Group.

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With this acquisition, Sentinel serves 4,300 clients. As an independent provider, the firm does not represent specific products, and often shares fiduciary responsibility with clients. Sentinel’s proprietary technology platform was internally developed by experts in the benefits industry to ensure the highest level of client service, the company said.

“Sentinel Benefits & Financial Group is seeking to expand nationally as a leading retirement and benefit provider in the independent marketplace,” added Carnevale. “We believe that as regulations continue to level the playing field through fee disclosure and as access to technology makes most providers look the same, the only real differentiator will be the local experts that serve clients. To that end, Sentinel seeks to define value to clients as independent, expert service, delivered at a reasonable price.”

Products July 11, 2011

Wisconsin’s 529 Plan Adds Low-Cost Portfolios

Wells Fargo Funds Management and the Wisconsin College Savings Program Board have announced several changes to EdVest, Wisconsin’s college savings plan. 
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Effective July 8, 2011, three index portfolios were added to EdVest.The reason for this addition is to provide more low-cost options for plan participants, said Jim DiUlio, Wisconsin’s 529 College Savings Program Director.

One of the new portfolios is the Vanguard International Index Portfolio. It invests entirely in the Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund, providing a 100% international index investment option. In addition, the existing Baird Bond Portfolio and Legg Mason Aggressive Portfolio have become low-cost index portfolios. The Baird Bond Portfolio has become the Vanguard Bond Index Portfolio, and the Legg Mason Aggressive Portfolio has become the Vanguard Small Cap Index Portfolio. These two shifts result in reductions to underlying fund expenses of nearly 23 basis points and 71 basis points, respectively.

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With these changes, EdVest now offers five low-cost Vanguard options covering international, domestic, fixed-income, and balanced asset classes to complement the diversified Wells Fargo portfolios currently available in the plan.

Additionally, the underlying investments in the four Wells Fargo-blended portfolios with an equity component have been reallocated to gain a direct exposure to emerging markets. Wells Fargo says that emerging markets have “proven to be one of the few sources of robust economic growth over the past 10 years. They contributed more than 50% to global growth in the late 2000s and have seen their share of global gross domestic product increase from 24% to more than 35% during the past five years. Emerging markets provide a way to add additional economic diversification while maintaining a level of volatility that has generally been consistent with domestic small-cap stocks.”

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