Products January 20, 2007

Commonwealth Financial Adds New Variable Annuity to Platform

Commonwealth Financial Network now offers Jefferson National Life Insurance Company’s flat-insurance fee variable annuity on its platform, the firms announced last week.
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The annuity is being made available through the Preferred Portfolio Services (PPS) of Commonwealth Financial Network, the nation’s second-largest, privately-owned, national independent broker-dealer that supports more than 1,000 independent registered representatives nationwide.PPS is a program that provides the complete infrastructure needed for an adviser to operate virtually any type of fee-based asset management practice.

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Monument Advisor is the first no-load, no-commission, no-surrender charge variable annuity; it has a flat-insurance fee of $20 per month, no matter how much clients invest, Jefferson National said.

The Markets January 19, 2007

Vanguard Adds Structured Value Fund

The Vanguard Group on Thursday announced the launch of the Vanguard Structured Large-Cap Value Fund.
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The fund, which seeks to outperform the Russell 1000 Value Index by using a quantitative approach to identify the most attractive stocks in the benchmark, increases Vanguard’s lineup of structured equity portfolios to four offerings, according to a news release.

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Both Institutional and Institutional Plus shares are offered for the new fund, with investment minimums of $5 million and $200 million, respectively. Investors who have $1 billion invested at Vanguard are eligible for the Institutional Plus shares with a $100 million investment.

The expense ratio for the Institutional Shares is 0.25% of average net assets; the expense ratio for the Institutional Plus shares is 0.15% of average net assets, Vanguard said.

Vanguard Quantitative Equity Group, which oversees $478 billion in index and quantitatively managed assets, serves as the fund’s manager.

Vanguard managed $300 billion for employer-sponsored retirement plans as of year-end 2006, according to the news release.

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