Nationwide Introduces Personalized Retirement Income Portfolios

Nationwide Financial Services said its new program, RetireSense, will help advisers build personalized retirement income solutions for clients.

Nationwide developed the RetireSense investment and drawdown strategy and supporting tools in response to advisers who say they are looking for more education and assistance with the retirement income planning process for clients, the company said.

RetireSense is not a tool or calculator, but a strategy that includes support for advisers to help them meet their clients’ goals. It provides a clear road map in retirement that identifies which investments to harvest for income, and when to do so, according to a news release.

How it Works

RetireSense suggests building a guaranteed income floor first to cover a client’s basic income needs. Next, it divides the client’s retirement into five-year periods, or Life Segments, and assigns a product and asset allocation to each segment to cover discretionary income needs. Since the potential impact of risks changes over time, RetireSense targets risk reduction techniques to when they’re needed most, Nationwide said.

The first five-year segment is tapped for income immediately, spending down the investment over a five-year period until it is completely liquidated. Future segments are afforded the potential to grow untouched until the time they are tapped for income in subsequent five-year periods.

To help implement the RetireSense strategy Nationwide has developed a Web-based application for advisers called the R-IncomeAnalyzer, which performs several calculations, including:

• amounts to be invested in each Life Segment
• asset allocation options
• product and protection feature options
• a measure of probability of success using historical simulation.

R-IncomeAnalyzer also produces a customized client report that outlines investment goals for each investment to help clients and advisers monitor annual progress, according to Nationwide. The RetireSense income planning process is fully supported by senior income planning consultants in the field and the Income Planning Desk in Nationwide’s home office. This group provides plan design and implementation assistance, helping advisers with client cases.

Nationwide provides RetireSense to financial professionals at no cost.