Investment Products and Service Launches

Lincoln Financial Group Releases New Annuities

Lincoln Financial Group has rolled out new fee-based variable and fixed-indexed annuities, broadening its suite of lifetime income solutions.

The firm says these products will aim to provide retirement savers with a known source of income through a competitive cost option with a broad selection of investment choices, and no surrender charges. The new solutions are available through Lincoln’s core commission-based solutions – Lincoln ChoicePlus Assurance, American Legacy and Lincoln Investor Advantage.

“These solutions provide advisers with more fee-based options to create a known source of income for their clients that they can never outlive and that can never go down,” explains John Kennedy, senior vice president and head of Retirement Solutions Distribution for Lincoln Financial Distributors. Until now, there have been limited choices for fee-based guaranteed income products. Our expanded portfolio is built to match the way advisers do business and how they construct portfolios for their clients. Guaranteed lifetime income solutions are important for helping consumers achieve their retirement objectives, and we are committed to offering fee-based solutions that deliver known sources of income.”

Variable annuities are designed for retirement and offer lifetime income, tax-deferred growth and death benefit protection for loved ones.

For more information, visit www.lfg.com.  

Nuveen Launches Investment Trust Portfolio

Nuveen’s Dynamic Allocation 60/40 Unit Investment Trust Portfolio will seek to provide regular monthly income and capital appreciation by investing in a specially designed portfolio comprised of 60% dividend-paying stocks and 40% fixed-income exchange-traded funds (ETF).

Nuveen says its portfolio consultant team will focus on diversifying across low-correlated asset classes to better endure market volatility and smooth out returns, while still capturing much of the return of an all-stock portfolio.

More information about the Nuveen Dynamic Allocation 60/40 Portfolio is available by clicking here.

NEXT: Wilshire Associates Releases ESG-Weighted Index

Wilshire Associates Releases ESG-Weighted Index

Wilshire Associates has launched the OWLshares ESG-Weighted U.S. Large Cap Index. Created and owned by New Millennium Macro and calculated by Wilshire, the index is designed to provide a large U.S. market capitalization benchmark for environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing.

It leverages proprietary OWL ESG scores to weight the performance of a group of approximately 500 U.S. large market capitalization companies, diversified by sector. The proprietary methodology over-weights companies with higher OWL ESG scores and underweights those with lower scores.

“Wilshire Analytics is proud to help bring to market yet another Powered by Wilshire index offering, this time from best-of-breed ESG analytics provider, OWLshares,” says Robert J. Waid, managing director at Wilshire Associates. “Wilshire’s calculation and analytical expertise combined with OWLshares’ growing suite of innovative, proprietary systematic indexes demonstrates the value of a Powered by Wilshire approach which can help fuel new client-driven investment benchmark strategy ideas and bring them to market quickly.”

NEXT: Voya Rolls Out Index Annuity

The Voya Journey Index Annuity will take a two-stage, interest-crediting approach to offer growth potential and protect against market declines, the firm says. It features dynamic indices from J.P. Morgan and Citigroup—J.P. Morgan Meridian Index and Citi Dynamic Asset Selector 5 Excess Return Index—allowing individuals to use multiple crediting strategies to match their long-term financial goals.

In the first stage, the account value can earn an annual "performance" credit when the selected index stays above the initial level during the first six years. In it's the second stage, an individual can potentially earn more interest credit. At the end of the seventh year, 100% of the selected index gains over that seven-year period are credited to the original premium.

"Americans are looking for new ways to grow and protect their retirement savings in today's uncertain world," says Carolyn Johnson, CEO of Annuities and Individual Life at Voya Financial. "The Voya Journey Index Annuity gives individuals the ability to plan with confidence. They can enjoy the benefits of increasing their future retirement income and rest easy knowing that their hard-earned savings are protected from unpredictable market swings."

She adds, "In today's low interest rate environment, the Voya Journey Index Annuity is a good alternative to taxable bank certificates or the volatility of bond mutual funds. Individuals have the opportunity to potentially earn better returns and still have protection from market volatility."

This new fixed index annuity is issued by the Voya Insurance and Annuity Company, a member of the Voya Financial family of companies.

For more information about the OWLshares ESG-Weighted U.S. Large Cap Index, visit OwlShares.com.