Break from the Grind April 28, 2016

A Little Friday File Fun

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In Washington, D.C., a man caused a White House lockdown after jumping the fence alongside the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, a White House facility where presidential staffers work. According to the Associated Press, Secret Service officers quickly detained the man, and an initial investigation suggested that the man was fleeing a robbery just across the street. Not the way to flee a robbery, dude.

In Minnetonka, Minnesota, a mail carrier driving her route crashed into a street sign. Police arrived on the scene and found her to be “extremely dr.unk,” according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune. She registered a blood-alco.hol level of 0.297. Other carriers finished her route.

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In Jackson, Mississippi, a man was tired of the pothole that had graced his neighborhood for a year, unfixed, so he tried a new way to get the city’s attention—by throwing the pothole a birthday party. Mashable reports that he set up a display featuring a festive birthday balloon as well as a giant birthday card reading “Happy birthday, Pothole!” in beautiful script. To drive the point home, the sign also said, “I’ve been here for over a year!” After several local news outlets reported on the pothole party, city officials finally filled it in.

In Cliffords Mesne, Gloucestershire, England, telephone workers responded after complaints that a cable was being damaged by rubbing against a tree. But after the work was finished last week, around 50 homes in the area were left with the wrong phone number, according to the UK’s Daily Mail. The blunder, which has not yet been fixed, meant that anyone trying to get through to a villager would end up speaking to his or her neighbor instead. Although the mistake was caused by engineers from BT Openreach, residents were told they had to contact their own service provider to get it fixed.

In Birmingham, England, a couple was anticipating the trip of a lifetime when they arrived at the Birmingham Airport in England recently for a flight to Las Vegas. However, their dreams were crushed when they learned their flights were actually departing from Birmingham, Alabama. The girlfriend spent a year planning the trip for her long-time boyfriend’s 30th birthday. She paid £1,200 ($1,745) for the flights on lastminute.com and wasn’t able to get a refund.

You know you’re too inebriated when…

If you can't view the below video, try https://youtu.be/3-0A2J6bnWY

An impressive video of a bee pulling a nail out of its house.

If you can't view the below video, try https://youtu.be/8f9mhC-low4

Products April 28, 2016

Investment Product and Service Launches

Vanguard reports fund expense reductions; Nationwide makes Stadion’s StoryLine small business 401(k) solution available on its platform.

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Vanguard Reports Expense Reductions

Vanguard has lowered expenses for 73 share classes offered by a variety of Vanguard mutual funds, including its two largest bond funds and two largest stock funds, complementing changes made to about 200 fund share classes during 2015.

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Vanguard is particularly enthusiastic about cuts to the four largest funds it offers, which it bills as four of the largest funds in the world. According to Vanguard, these changes are playing out as follows:  

  • The Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund expense ratio for Investor Shares was reduced by four basis points, to 0.16%; for Admiral Shares, by one basis point, to 0.06%; for ETF Shares, by one basis point, to 0.06%; for Institutional Shares, by one basis point, to 0.05%; and for Institutional Plus Shares, by one basis point, to 0.04%.
  • The Vanguard Total Bond Index II Fund expense ratio for Investor Shares was reduced by one basis point, to 0.09%; for Institutional Shares, the expense ratio was reduced by three basis points, to 0.02%.
  • The Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund expense ratio for Investor Shares was dropped by one basis point, to 0.16%.  
  • The Vanguard 500 Index Fund expense ratio for Investor Shares was also reduced one basis point, to 0.16%.

Vanguard CEO Bill McNabb notes that clients now pay an average asset weighted expense ratio (the average shareholders actually pay) of 0.13%, which is five basis points below the firm’s average nominal expense ratio of 0.18%.

According to Vanguard, other expense changes are being made to 17 Admiral Shares and 14 ETF Shares, which all expect expense ratio reductions. Overall, the expense ratio reductions span five fund share classes (Investor, Admiral, ETF, Institutional and Institutional Plus) across five fund categories: Domestic stock index, domestic bond index, balanced index, managed payout and tax-managed.

More specific information on the expense changes is at www.Vanguard.com. 

Nationwide Offers Stadion Small-Business Solution

Nationwide has made Stadion’s StoryLine small-business 401(k) solution available on its retirement planning platform.

According to the firms, the StoryLine product has been designed specifically to address the needs of 401(k) participants in adviser-sold, small-market plans. The solution presents a new level of customization for small-plan participants, they argue, which Stadion “sees as a discernible improvement over one-size-fits-all target-date strategies.”

“What makes StoryLine so appealing is its singular focus on small-plan participants,” says Joe Frustaglio, vice president of retirement plan sales for Nationwide, “who often lack the same personalized planning opportunities provided to participants in larger plans.”

StoryLine’s approach recognizes every plan sponsor and employee as unique, he adds. “The StoryLine process first seeks insight into the overall plan makeup with the intent of tailoring default options for each individual company. Then, with Stadion’s participant-centric Web interface, employees will be encouraged to further define their individual investment paths based on personal risk profiles, expectations and goals.”

The firms also expect StoryLine to allow—at the employee’s discretion—the inclusion of outside and spousal assets to facilitate more comprehensive retirement planning. The end goal of this is to have each participant on a path personalized to their own circumstances and needs.

For Nationwide’s financial advisers, the "halo" benefit of StoryLine are the tools available to help deepen their relationships with sponsors and participants as they engage them at the plan level with tailored solutions. In turn, sponsors are then able to offer their employees access to individual personalized planning that goes beyond typical age- and risk-based investment strategies.

For more information, visit Stadion Money Management at www.stadionmoney.com. 

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