hot off the presses

Sponsor and Participant Tools 

The Principal Financial Group has made adjustments for advisers and plan sponsors to comply with new retirement plan fee disclosure regulations, including: a streamlined summary of fees; an interactive services Web page that helps plan sponsors review services available and used by the plan; and an online disclosure landing page where plan sponsors can find required information in one place.

Mercer launched RetireTALK, an online retirement planning and edu­cation platform for participants in its 401(k) plans. The interactive Web site uses hypothetical personal retirement scenarios based on different ages and challenges to bring a “real world” rele­vance to retirement planning.

The Center for Retirement Research at Boston College developed the Financial Security Project, a Web site to help people make better financial decisions to prepare for retirement.

The American College of Employee Benefits Counsel added a feature to its Web site to help locate leading employee benefits practitioners, including those available to act as mediators or expert witnesses in legal disputes.

Retirement Investment Strategies has launched FinancialPlanStrategies.com to help those approximately 10 years from retirement, or those already in retirement, manage their money.

Lincoln Financial Group has introduced the Lincoln InStep partic­ipant education program, a suite of resources­ designed to help plan partic­ipants with retirement planning.

PlanTools has completed its Revenue Sharing Database, which houses and automates the disclosure of open archi­tecture and group annuity
revenue-sharing agreements. The database will allow service providers to compare and contrast a single menu of investments against numerous platforms, or two different investment menus against other platforms, to identify the best revenue-sharing deals.

Lincoln Trust Company is rolling out Managed Models, a customized portfolio product designed specifically for the retirement industry.

Mid-Atlantic Trust Company is adding­ FiduciaCare, an online solution­ to assist plan sponsors and their advisers­ through the compliance process­ for defined contribution plans, to its platform.

Putnam has introduced an iPhone application called PriceCheck&Save that allows participants to find savings opportunities through comparison shopping, and then immediately direct that savings to their 401(k) account.

J.P. Morgan Retirement Plan Services (RPS) has launched an online social media forum for plan sponsor clients, called Voice of the Community.

For employees with stock options or nonqualified deferred compensation (NQDC) plans, myStockOptions.com and myNQDC.com are offering guidance on how to save successfully for college through a series of articles posted on the Web sites, explaining the issues and steps involved in using these forms of compensation to meet the costs of university tuition.

MetLife is expanding its workplace financial and retirement educational programs with a series of workshops known as PlanSmart, which will cover an array of financial topics.

Adviser Tools

Russell Investments has launched LifePoints CONNECT, a client engage­ment platform for investment advisers that allows them to engage clients with profiling tools, investment and savings plans, access to globally diversified portfolios, and quarterly economic and portfolio reviews.

The Institutional Retirement Income Council (IRIC) has developed a scorecard that can evaluate the suitability of a retirement income strategy as an investment option within an employer-sponsored defined contribution plan, which is discussed in a paper, “Evaluation Scorecard for Retirement Income Products.”

American Century Investments developed the Retirement Service Provider Overview (RSPO) Program to help plan providers and advisers working with plan sponsors collect and document information. The program is designed to comply with pending Department of Labor regulations.

Nationwide Financial introduced IncomeInsight­, a resource for advisers­ to use when exploring a variable annuity with a lifetime guaranteed minimum withdrawal benefit option for clients’ retirement portfolios.

Loring Ward launched Loring Ward Total Retirement (LWTR) to provide advisers the ability to work with a range of retirement plan solutions including 401(k), 403(b), 457(b), profit sharing, defined benefit, and hybrid 401(k)/defined benefit plans.

MetLife published a paper titled “Engaging­ Clients in a New Way: Putting­ the Findings to Behavioral Strategies to Work,” which offers guidance­ for advisers­ about how to help clients transition from the accumulation phase to the drawdown phase in retirement­.

Principal Funds launched the Web site Preferredsecurities.com as a place for advisers­ to learn about the potential of investing­ with preferred securities.

Investments

DST Retirement Solutions launched the Retirement Income Information Clearing & Calculation (RICC) offering, a central clearing and stand-alone recordkeeping platform designed to process and support guaranteed income products.

MetLife has launched Guaranteed Minimum Income Benefit Max (GMIB Max) and Enhanced Death Benefit Max (EDB Max) variable annuity riders­ with Protected Growth Strategies. The company said these offerings are built by MetLife to help provide clients more guaranteed income and more consistent returns over time.

Genworth Financial Wealth Management is introducing Genworth Portfolio Solutions (GPS), providing advisers with four asset allocation models, based on the following approaches: strategic, tactical constrained, tactical unconstrained, and absolute return.

J.P. Morgan Worldwide Securities Services has launched a cash allocation and rebalancing solution (CARS) that supports target-date funds, both custom and open architecture. J.P. Morgan CARS allows clients to implement a unique allocation strategy (glide path) with any configuration of underlying investments.

Janus launched Janus Protected Series – Growth, the first U.S.-based capital protection mutual fund to offer daily liquidity with no set maturity date.

Nationwide Financial Services, Inc., added the Nationwide Bank FDIC Insured Deposit Account option to its menu of retirement plan offerings. The product is an interest-earning ­account that provides retirement plan participants with principal protection, ­current income, and in-plan liquidity.

AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company has introduced the Structured Investment Option (SIO) for its EQUI-VEST series of variable deferred annuities available to employer-­sponsored retirement savings plans.

Russell Investments launched an index family that reflects six investment disciplines in the U.S. large-cap equity class: Russell U.S. Large Cap Aggressive Growth Index, Russell U.S. Large Cap Consistent Growth Index, Russell U.S. Large Cap Growth at a Reasonable Price (GARP) Index, Russell U.S. Large Cap Equity Income Index, Russell U.S. Large Cap Low P/E Index, and Russell U.S. Large Cap Contrarian Index.

VALIC is introducing Plan Essentials­ in partnership with Mesirow Financial­. Plan Essentials includes two investment lineups: “The Core,” which consists of funds that track widely followed market indexes, and the “Expanded­” investment lineup, which has a wider range of investment choices for participants with a greater level of investment knowledge.

TIAA-CREF rolled out the TIAA-CREF Lifecycle 2055 Fund, designed to meet the needs of investors who are currently 18 to 22 years old and plan to retire in or around 2055.

Lord, Abbett & Co. and Wilshire Asso­ciates announced the joint release of Pro Active Income Solutions, portfolios designed to deliver targeted income through an active overlay.