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Products October 9, 2014
Lincoln Financial Unveils ‘Secured Income’ Product
October 9, 2014 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – Lincoln Financial Group’s retirement plan services business launched the Lincoln Secured Retirement Income investment option, a guaranteed withdrawal benefit (GWB) designed to provide guaranteed income for life.
Reported by PLANSPONSOR staff
Lincoln says the product is designed to protect retirement plan participants’ savings from market declines while also allowing for gains from rising markets. The investment option is available as a qualified default investment alternative (QDIA), taking the form of a custom target-date solution within Lincoln’s LifeSpan administrative platform or as a standalone investment.
“At the heart of the solution, Lincoln’s Secured Retirement Income is a next generation ‘auto-income’ plan option that helps provide guaranteed income for life,” explains Eric Levy, head of retirement plan product and solutions management for Lincoln Financial Group.
Participant contributions in the Lincoln Secured Retirement Income option are invested in Lincoln’s LVIP Managed Risk Profile Moderate Fund, a balanced fund that employs a risk management strategy and seeks to lower the volatility of returns and provide capital protection in down markets.
Through the guarantee portion, the Secured Retirement Income option determines a participant’s guaranteed lifetime retirement income by the participant’s “income base.” The income base is calculated and reset annually and equals the higher of the market value of the account or the previous year’s income base, plus contributions and less withdrawals. At any time, participants have access to the market value and can withdraw, transfer, take a loan or execute other transactions from the balanced fund as allowed by the plan.
According to Lincoln, the Secured Retirement Income option gives plan sponsors fiduciary support, a competitive benefit for employees, and a way to transition employees more easily into retirement. Lincoln’s Secured Retirement Income solution is available for adoption by participants of any age.
“When combined with automatic enrollment, automatic increase and professionally managed portfolios, we can complete the automatic suite of solutions while providing growth potential that can act as a hedge against inflation, reduce the risk to downturns in the market, and offer a steady income stream in retirement,” Levy adds.
More information on the GWB product is at www.lincolnfinancial.com/SRI.