Merrill Advisers Offering BofA Clients Retirement Income Management

Bank of America’s Merrill wealth management division is joining the push to provide retirement income solutions to clients.

On Monday, the bank announced Merrill is offering portfolios “designed to deliver predictable income for retirees over a 25-year period.”

The offering is available to clients of Merrill Guided Investing, which combines online investing with a professionally managed portfolio, and Merrill Guided Investing with Advisor, which offers access to the platform and additional one-on-one guidance from a financial adviser. The solutions include:

• Income-focused strategies ranging from “stable income” to “income and growth” built on their retirement horizon and risk tolerance;
• portfolios designed with recurring distributions into a checking or investing account of their choice, with seamless connection to Bank of America or Merrill accounts. Clients must have a minimum of $50,000 in assets to fund the account; and
• portfolios designed and managed by Merrill’s Chief Investment Office to give a “fully integrated experience” for asset allocation, portfolio construction, investment selection and risk management.

“The new income-focused portfolios are designed to help with concerns over outliving retirement savings by giving retirees the ability to control their income, while allowing for flexibility as life changes inevitably occur,” Mark Granshaw, head of consumer investments product for Bank of America, said in a statement.

Bank of America cited in its announcement a workplace benefits report it released in 2023 finding confidence among employees in managing their own retirement needs actually dropped over the past two years. According to the survey of 878 employees working full-time and participating in 401(k) plans, 30% said they were confident in setting up the right withdrawal schedule in 2021, versus 20% in 2023.

Last week, recordkeeper and wealth manager Empower announced plans for a suite of new partnerships to offer guaranteed retirement income solutions to retirement plan participants both in and out of their workplace plans. The suite includes annuity products through a managed account, a target-date fund or via an annuity marketplace.