Products November 9, 2016

ERISApedia Launches Program to Help Advisers Boost Web Presence

Professional Website Services by ERISApedia is designed to support financial advisers that work in the qualified plan space by helping them create or enhance their Web presence with fresh content and a fresh look.
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ERISApedia has launched a new online initiative called Professional Website Services (PWS), which will provide clients in the qualified plan space with a wealth of regularly updated industry content including bi-monthly newsletters and social media material.

The program will offer fresh material written by Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) content authors on a regular basis. Its Web design templates feature customizable options including color and design elements to reflect a firm’s brand. The web design is hosted and mobile ready with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) enhancement, allowing clients and prospective clients to easily learn more about a firm and contact it via any device.

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“We have created PWS with convenient templates that can be modified to portray your company in the best light for those searching for ERISA professionals,” says Timothy McCutcheon, president and publisher of ERISApedia.com. “We offer bi-monthly newsletters, automatically uploaded with our support. Our web templates clearly display on tablets or phones where 20%-40% of first-time visitors complete their research to find assistance. This is only one part of our ongoing efforts to add products and services of value to the benefit plan community.”

ERISApedia.com is a Burrmont Compliance Labs Company providing retirement plan sponsors, administrators, attorneys and advisers a complete product suite of compliance and business development tools for ERISA professionals. The compliance tools provide users with access to compliance information and important retirement industry materials. The business development resources include tools for finding and filtering plan sponsor data from Form 5500 filings and their attachments, and also include professional website and client communication materials. With a platform that combines search tools and a user-friendly interface, ERISApedia.com provides tools for our customers to get answers and win clients.

The Markets November 8, 2016

Portfolio Allocation Choices Help Institutional Investors Boost Returns

“The median return of the three plan types varied slightly, but the way each achieved its strong positive return was distinctive,” says Amy Garrigues with Northern Trust.
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The third quarter of 2016 marked the fourth consecutive quarterly gain for plan sponsors, with institutional asset owners gaining approximately 3.6% at the median, according to the Northern Trust Universe.

Strong equity returns, especially non-U.S. equities, helped nearly double the median gain from the previous quarter.

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Foundations & Endowments had the best median return in the third quarter with a gain of 3.7%. Public Funds netted 3.6% while Corporate Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) plans were up 3.4%.

“The median return of the three plan types varied slightly, but the way each achieved its strong positive return was distinctive,” says Amy Garrigues, head of Investment Risk and Analytical Services in North America. “Foundations & Endowments had the smallest allocation to the weakest returning asset, fixed income, while Public Funds had the largest allocation to the best returning asset class, international equities. Corporate ERISA plans benefited from a larger exposure to non-core fixed income.”

Non-U.S. equities returned 6.9% at the median, the highest return of the major asset classes, while U.S. equities returned 4.8%. Corporate ERISA plans were helped by a significant allocation to high yield, emerging market debt and longer duration investment grade bonds. Those bonds returned considerably more than traditional core bonds, generating approximately 100 basis points of fixed income program returns.

Public Fund returns were boosted by a relatively large allocation (16%) to non-U.S. equity while Corporate ERISA plans and Foundations & Endowments had median allocations closer to 10%. Foundations & Endowment returns were helped by a smaller allocation (12.4%) to domestic fixed income.  The median third-quarter return for fixed income was 1.4%, the weakest of the major asset classes.

The one-year return as of September 30, 2016, for Corporate ERISA plans is 11.6%. For Public Funds it is 9.8%, and for Foundations & Endowments it is 7%.

The Northern Trust Universe tracks the performance of approximately 300 large U.S. institutional investment plans, with a combined asset value of approximately $899 billion, which subscribe to performance measurement services as part of Northern Trust’s asset servicing offerings.

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