Products May 22, 2014

John Hancock Expands Asset Allocation Models

May 22, 2014 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – John Hancock Retirement Plan Services added five new asset-allocation options to the JH Signature 401(k) Plan Platform.
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New offerings include target date fund (TDF) suites from T. Rowe Price and American Century, as well as additional target date and lifestyle portfolios from John Hancock.

Nearly 80% of participants served on the platform use an asset-allocation option, says Andrew Ross, senior vice president of market and product development for John Hancock Retirement Plan Services. He says the JH Select platform offers advisers and plan sponsors a way to construct investment lineups that meet the specific needs of their plans.

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“Given the importance of asset-allocation portfolios, we are pleased that plan sponsors now have nine different asset-allocation offerings from which to choose,” he adds.

The new options are as follows:

  • T. Rowe Price Retirement Funds – The fund series includes actively managed TDFs that maintain significant equity allocations based on proprietary allocation modeling and research. The asset allocations continue to shift for 30 years after the target retirement date and the underlying portfolios consist mainly of actively managed T. Rowe Price funds.
  • American Century One Choice Target Date Portfolios – These funds provide broad asset class coverage and diversification through established strategies managed internally. The portfolios seek to mitigate volatility in retirement when market risk is most critical, and the underlying asset mix shifts as retirement nears.
  • JH Retirement through Managed Portfolios 2010-2055 – This actively managed set of portfolios invests in passive underlying funds. Portfolios are designed to help support participants’ need for income through their retirement years.
  • JH Lifestyle-Managed Portfolios – These portfolios offer participants broad diversification in a single actively managed fund, with passive, low-cost underlying investments.
  • JH Lifestyle-Managed Volatility – The suite of five funds is designed with the objective of limiting losses and maintaining volatility within a target range during periods of high volatility.

The new options join the four existing asset allocation options already offered on the JH Signature platform, including existing “to” and “through” retirement target-date options, JH Lifestyle actively managed portfolios and the Guaranteed Income for Life Select portfolios.

All of the newly added asset allocation portfolios will qualify under the JH Fiduciary Standards Warranty program and are available to new and existing JH Signature plans effective immediately. More information is available at the John Hancock Retirement Plan Services website, here.

Products May 22, 2014

Firms Launch Benchmarking Tool for Institutional Investors

May 22, 2014 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – Endowment Wealth Management, Inc. and ETF Model Solutions, LLC have partnered to launch the Endowment Index.
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The index is a benchmarking tool for investors in globally-diversified, multi-asset portfolios that include alternative investments. Calculated by Nasdaq OMX, it is an objective benchmark comprised of three major asset class building blocks: Global Equity, Global Fixed Income, and Alternatives which includes hedge funds, private equity and real assets.

The index is used for portfolio comparison, investment analysis, research and benchmarking purposes by fiduciaries such as trustees, portfolio managers, consultants and advisers to endowments, foundations, trusts, defined benefit/defined contribution plans, pension plans and individual investors. It is a total return index and all underlying components are comprised of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or other investable securities.

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“The proliferation of exchange-traded products and mutual funds that offer alternative strategies in liquid form is leading to the increasing adoption by investors outside of the institutional endowment universe,” says Prateek Mehrotra, Chief Investment Officer of Endowment Wealth Management, based in Appleton, Wisconsin. “Until now, they’ve had to use a proxy or a custom benchmark for those portfolios. The Endowment Index now provides an appropriate benchmarking solution for investors.”

The use of alternatives has broadened beyond endowments. Mehrotra cites recent studies by Barclays Prime Brokers, which estimate that use of liquid alternatives grew 43% to $137 billion in 2013, and that by 2018, assets in this space could stretch to between $650 and $950 billion.

Index data can be accessed through most major quote providers and websites under the symbol “ENDOW”. For more information, visit http://www.EndowmentIndex.com.

Endowment Wealth Management, Inc. is an independent private wealth management firm using a multi-client family office service model.

ETF Model Solutions, LLC, is third-party investment manager and ETF strategist that builds investment models for 401(k) plans, investment advisers within their practice, family offices, endowments, foundations, trusts, and individual investors.

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