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401kExchange Welcomes
JP Morgan
to the Weekly
Exchange
JPMORGAN MAY BE
a well
known brand to Defined Benefit Plans, plan participants,
and large Defined Contribution plan sponsors, but to
many retirement advisors, it is a relatively new entity.
Over the past two years, the Investment Only-Defined
Contribution group (IODC)—created by JPMorgan Funds
Management, the retail distribution arm of JPMorgan
Asset Management—has focused on helping
retirement-advisors better serve its plan sponsor and
participant clients with JP Morgan’s institutional and
retail retirement investment solutions.
The surge
in open investment platforms as well as the increased
focus of investment-only providers (IOs) have left many
advisors inundated and cynical in their approach to IO
wholesalers. JPMorgan differentiates itself with a well
known, brand, its seven independently run, heritage fund
families as well as its experienced retirement
specialists and recognized risk-managed investment
solutions.
The IODC
group is led by David Musto, who has spent most of his
career helping advisors build and manage their
businesses, most recently with Prudential Retirement.
The group offers 160 funds, including a dozen or so
strategies that currently screen well for DC Plans such
as Core Bond, International Value and Intrepid Value,
Growth and America Funds. For default investment
options, (QDIAs), JPMorgan offers 10 target date fund
strategies or “vintages,” that offer good performance
since inception, as well as balanced and risk-based
strategies. To CFOs, HR Executives and Investment
Consultants, one of the most appreciable “assets” of its
target date approach is that, rather than slotting
various proprietary mutual funds by asset class,
JPMorgan’s target date strategies are managed like mini
Defined Benefit plans, with many low-correlation asset
classes and “realistic” market projections designed to
weather volatility.
To win over
retirement advisors, IO’s must go beyond offering
investments to helping advisors grow their businesses
and manage their books. With its experienced network of
retirement and retail wholesalers, JPMorgan provides
unique, institutional-quality intellectual capital and
sales tools for advisors—all backed by a network of
research analysts. JPMorgan can act as an important,
value-added partner to those retirement advisors who are
ready to move their practices beyond mere investment
selection and monitoring.
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