Investment Product and Service Launches

Pacific Life, Wespath and WTW Partner on QLAC Option  

Pacific Life has announced a new collaboration with Wespath Benefits and Investments and WTW to provide the qualifying longevity annuity contract option in Wespath’s LifeStage Retirement Income program.

According to the firms, the optional longevity income protection feature helps protect participants against the risk of outliving their savings. With Pacific Life’s QLAC, participants are guaranteed a retirement income stream starting at age 80, regardless of how long the participant and, if applicable, the participant’s spouse, lives. In addition, the QLAC can help to reduce required minimum distributions, providing additional tax planning options.

Any associated guarantees are subject to the claims-paying ability and financial strength of the issuing insurance company. Product availability and features may vary by state.

Principal Global Investors Launches Active Real Estate ETF

Principal Global Investors has announced the launch of the Principal Real Estate Active Opportunities ETF.

According to Principal Global Investors, this is the firm’s first semi-transparent exchange-traded fund, and it is now available for trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The actively managed fund has a focused concentration on the non-traditional property sectors of the publicly traded U.S. real estate market. Its objective is to seek total return.

Jill Brown, managing director of the U.S. wealth platform at Principal Global Investors, says the new fund combines two core strengths of Principal—active management and real estate investing—to provide clients with a strategy that seeks to improve portfolio outcomes. She notes that the fund is thematic and gives investors exposure to in-demand real estate sectors, with the benefits of a liquid ETF structure.

Due to its concentrated exposure to non-traditional property sectors, Brown says, the Principal Real Estate Active Opportunities ETF can enhance core equity portfolios for investors as a satellite allocation. According to the firm, this approach creates the potential for better portfolio outcomes and higher total returns, with improved diversification generated by the resilient growth characteristics of many public real estate investment trusts in the non-traditional sectors.

Non-traditional real estate sectors include property types like data centers, life sciences facilities, single-family rentals, medical offices and self-storage spaces. According to Principal, these sectors have been highly resilient the past few years. Shifts in the economy and structural themes ranging from demographics and infrastructure to globalization and technological innovation are driving change and opportunity for these non-traditional property types.