This week in our corporate roundup, over 10 organizations announce the 50th celebration of one of the most impactful U.S. employee benefit laws, T. Rowe Price releases a new framework that evaluates retirement income solutions, Ascensus names a new regional vice president to its sales team, and more.
ERISA celebrates 50 years
To commemorate 50 years of one of the most significant U.S. employee benefits laws, over 10 organizations will host the ERISA 50th Anniversary Symposium and Gala on Thursday, September 12, 2024, in Washington, D.C.
The Symposium will be held at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, and the Gala will be held at the National Building Museum. It will mark five decades since the landmark law’s passage.
The ERISA 50th Anniversary Symposium is a one-day program designed to honor, reflect upon, and envision ERISA’s past, present, and future. For those unable to join in person, the Symposium will be accessible virtually. The ERISA 50th Anniversary Gala will follow.
Event sponsors include AARP; Accenture LLP; Accenture Federal Services; American Council of Life Insurers; American Retirement Association; Bank of America; Blue Cross Blue Shield Association; CVS Health; Davis & Harman LLP; Empower; Faegre Drinker; Fidelity Investments; Groom Law Group, Chartered; Investment Company Institute; Lincoln Financial Group; Mercer; MetLife; Miller & Chevalier Chartered; Milliman; Morningstar Retirement; NRECA | America’s Electric Cooperatives; PGIM; Principal Financial Group; Retirement Clearinghouse; Segal; SS&C Technologies, Inc.; State Street Global Advisors; T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc.; TIAA | Nuveen; and Winston & Strawn LLP.
In addition to the Host Committee, the following organizations serve on the Advisory Committee, tasked with developing the symposium agenda: The Aspen Institute; The Bipartisan Policy Center; Pension Rights Center; Georgetown University Center for Retirement Initiatives at the McCourt School of Public Policy; The American College of Employee Benefits Counsel; Employee Benefits Research Institute; and Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement (WISER).
Moreover, the Academy of Actuaries and Employee Benefit Research Institute serve on the Research Committee, which is tasked with collecting and identifying research materials.
Those interested in becoming an event sponsor or purchasing a table for the Gala, can fill out this form. More information on the event can be found on www.erisa50.org.
T. Rowe Price launches framework assessing retirement income tools
T. Rowe Price has unveiled a new, patent-pending framework to help defined contribution (DC) plan sponsors evaluate retirement income offerings and quantify which solutions may best fit the needs and preferences of their plan participants.
T. Rowe Price’s global retirement strategy team and global multi-asset research team collaborated on developing the framework, which offers DC plan sponsors, their advisors, and consultants a standard language to understand how different retirement income products require tradeoffs to meet specific plan participant objectives.
Investments solutions used during the savings phase are generally evaluated on a two-dimensional basis, focusing on a certain level of return for a given level of risk, writes T. Rowe Price. According to the firm, the 5-D framework for the decumulation phase identifies objectives unique to the spending phase, namely:
- Longevity risk hedge: how many years will retirement savings last?
- Level of payments: what will the amount of annual income be?
- Volatility of payments: how much can “paychecks” change from year to year?
- Liquidity of balance: if a need arises, how much savings can be accessed?
- Unexpected balance depletion: how high is the risk of money running out earlier than planned?
“We are continuously evolving our retirement research and offerings to facilitate choice and personalized solutions that can best fit retirees’ needs,” said Sebastien Page, head of Global Multi Asset and chief investment officer at T. Rowe Price. “It is our hope that the 5-D framework and supporting research will become a standard for how in-plan retirement income solutions are evaluated. Our team has created an unbiased and uniform model that allows plan sponsors to visualize, compare, and contrast retirement income products.”
Ascensus names RVP to national sales team
Ascensus has appointed a new regional vice president (RVP) to the Retirement sales team.
Maggy Flowers, now RVP for the Southwest region, brings previous experience in client retention and sales for the retirement industry.
Flowers will work to foster relationships with advisors and expand on new and existing opportunities in Arizona, New Mexico, and Nevada. She reports to Lori Zeman, division vice president for the Western region.
Among her previous roles includes rollover specialist and sales consultant at MassMutual, where she worked directly with clients and provided guidance and insights to financial advisors.
Her most recent role was as an internal sales director for Empower, where she partnered with advisors and managed relationships between team members and clients alike.
“We’re fortunate to have the opportunity to further develop our sales team with the addition of Maggy and her established skills in creating and providing value to everyone she works with,” said Zeman. “We’re on a mission to help more savers save more, and with Maggy covering important states in the Southwest region, she will only increase our momentum towards that goal.”
Micruity and MetLife collaborate on retirement income accessibility
Micruity is expanding its collaboration with MetLife, Inc., to partner on the development of MetLife’s Universal Digital Retirement Platform, an education, planning, and annuity purchasing tool that connects to existing employment benefit, third party administrator (TPA) and recordkeeping systems.
MetLife’s 2024 Qualifying Longevity Annuity Contract Poll found that 91% of plan sponsors are concerned that future retirees will run out of money in their retirement. The two firms hope the new tool will help plan sponsors address these concerns by making it seamless to offer educational resources on a broad range of retirement income-related topics, along with expanding access to immediate income annuities.
“Our flexible infrastructure means that we can efficiently build out new products and enhancements for our clients, iterating on components we previously configured for MetLife on Fidelity’s Guaranteed Income Direct (GID) and State Street Global Advisors IncomeWise platforms,” Micruity CEO Trevor Gary said.
“By augmenting the retirement planning tools available to plan participants through Micruity’s integrations, we are making it easier for participants to learn about and access retirement income solutions like our MetLife Guaranteed Income Program and MetLife Retirement Income Insurance QLAC,” added Roberta Rafaloff, vice president and head of Institutional Income Annuities at MetLife.
Vanguard reopens PRIMECAP funds
Vanguard has announced that both its Vanguard PRIMECAP Fund and Vanguard PRIMECAP Core Fund are open to all investors without restriction, effective immediately. Both funds, which have been closed since 2004 and 2009, respectively, are now available for new accounts and additional purchases.
According to Vanguard, the firm evaluates its active fund lineup on an ongoing basis to monitor investment capacity and to ensure that cash flows into a fund do not affect its ability to meet its investment objectives, among other factors. After careful consideration, Vanguard says it has determined that the PRIMECAP and PRIMECAP Core Funds have sufficient investment capacity to reopen. Prior to the reopening, existing investors were limited to additional purchases of no more than $25,000 per year.
Both funds are actively managed U.S. large-cap equity funds that Vanguard says features a “long-term perspective, extremely low portfolio turnover, and well-established investment strategies anchored in bottom-up, fundamental research.” PRIMECAP Fund focuses primarily on growth-oriented stocks, while PRIMECAP Core Fund invests in stocks with both value and growth characteristics.
“PRIMECAP Management Company has partnered with Vanguard for nearly 40 years, and our long partnership has served investors well,” said Joel Fried, PRIMECAP Management’s president and one of the five portfolio managers on the funds. “We’re excited to expand access to our fundamental, research-driven, and long-term oriented approach to a broader set of investors.”
SEE ALSO:
- Corporate Roundup: Nuveen Taps New CEO, Sharebuilder 401k Slashes Setup Fee
- Corporate Roundup: Morningstar Wealth, Empower, GSAM
- Corporate Roundup: Principal Acquires Ascensus’ ESOP Business, Empower Names CCO
Amanda Umpierrez is the Managing Editor of 401(k) Specialist magazine. She is a financial services reporter with over six years of experience and a passion for telling stories and reporting news. Amanda received her degree in journalism and government and politics at St. John’s University. She is originally from Queens, New York, but now resides in Denver, Colorado with her partner. In her free time, Amanda enjoys running, cooking, and watching the latest drama show.