Products February 6, 2015

Merrill Lynch Unveils Expanded Capabilities

Merrill Lynch Clear has announced the roll-out of products enabling clients to better prepare for and live comfortably in retirement.
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To help people navigate to and throughout retirement, Merrill Lynch Clear has defined seven life priorities: health, home, family, finance, giving, work and leisure. With the roll-out of its holistic wellness program in May 2014, Merrill Lynch Clear has provided resources to 8,600 of its advisers, enabling them to have more effective conversations with clients.

Merrill Lynch Clear has expanded its capabilities to include:

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  • Exclusive access to luxury travel advisers – Through a partnership with travel network Virtuoso, Merrill Lynch clients will have access to travel advisers who can assist them with their travel arrangements.
  • Longevity training program – The program offers insights into the sociological, psychological and physiological aspects of aging, with access to videos, online courses and reference materials, as well as Web-based presentations and knowledge sharing. It is aimed at helping advisers and retirement specialists better understand and address the evolving needs of the nation’s aging population and their families.
  • Applications (apps) – A suite of iPad “Discovery Apps” are designed to help facilitate more effective conversations between advisers and their clients. The sequence of returns app illustrates the risk associated with receiving low returns on a portfolio in early retirement, helping advisers bring personalized scenarios to clients concerned about outliving their money or unaware of the risk of poor market returns. Additionally, the Merrill Lynch Clear discovery app, goal explorer app and investment personality assessment app have been integrated into a single application that allows clients to adjust their goals and the importance they attach to each life priority.
  • Expanded resource library – More than 130 articles, videos, guides, seminars and other content have been added since last May .
  • Insights into retirement realities – Merrill Lynch has partnered with Age Wave to conduct a series of retirement studies, including Americans’ Perspectives on New Retirement Realities and the Longevity Bonus (May 2013); Family & Retirement: The Elephant in the Room (November 2013); Work in Retirement: Myths and Motivations (June 2014); and Health and Retirement: Planning for the Great Unknown (September 2014). The next study, focused on the hopes and concerns of retirees and pre-retirees when choosing the type of home and community to live in during retirement, will be published later this month.
“We’re continuously exploring and adding powerful capabilities to Merrill Lynch Clear,” says David Tyrie, head of retirement and personal wealth solutions for Bank of America Merrill Lynch. “This dynamic approach is helping to better connect more people’s lives to their finances through broader, more personally meaningful conversations with their financial advisers about their priorities.”

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