DC Plans Can Benefit by Adopting DB Plan Best Practices
A presentation by Robert C. Merton at Plan Sponsor Council of America’s 2014 National Conference highlighted several best practices used by defined benefit plans that could be adopted by defined contribution plans to help improve plan outcomes. The two areas of focus were on communication with participants and on investment selection. For example, since […]
A Better Option Than Target Date Funds
An article titled “A Better Option Than Target-Date Funds” written by Prateek Mehrotra, CIO of ETF Model SoTMlutions and Endowment Wealth ManagementTM was recently published in the Industry Voices column on PlanSponsor.com. In the article, Prateek discusses the following drawbacks of TDFs: TDFs assume a “one-size fits all” and fail to take into account unique […]
ETF Model SolutionsTM In the News:’ Prateek Mehrotra, CIO Comments on Current Equity Prices in Institutional Investor
Comments from Prateek Mehrotra, CIO of ETF Model SolutionsTM, were printed in InstitutionalInvestor.com earlier today in an article titled Portfolio Perspective: Warning Signs for Your Client’s Stock Market Exposure. In the article, Prateek discusses a number of valuation metrics that he follows, many of which are extended. This leaves the market potentially vulnerable to a “mean-reversion” type correction, although […]
Target Date Funds aren’t right for every 401(k)
A recent article that appeared on CNBC.com titled “Don’t let your 401(k) retire before you do” highlighted some of the reasons that TDFs may not be a good fit for all plan participants, including: There is not uniformity among TDFs as to their asset mix, which can change unexpectedly Individual investors may have unique circumstances that […]
More Data Shows That Few Active Mutual Fund Managers Beat the Market
A recent article summarized data from a paper in the Financial Analysts Journal on the career paths of mutual fund managers. Not surprisingly it confirms most mutual fund managers of any tenure “generally do not outperform the market or their style benchmarks and do not display consistently superior performance.” “Even long-term managers show no ability […]
3 Big Shortcomings of Target Date Funds
Asset growth in Target Date Funds (“TDFs”) in defined contribution plans has been phenomenal the past few years, primarily because the trend in plan design features such as automatic enrollment and being deemed qualified default investment alternatives. Respondents in a Callen Associates survey indicated that the total percentage of defined contribution plan assets in TDFs as of 12/31/2013 was 21.12%, […]
Time to Consider a Collective Trust?
A recent article in PLANADVISER highlights some of the benefits of Collective Trusts. The article, “Time to Consider a Collective Trust?”, John Manganaro provides an overview of Collective Trusts, how they are used, and why they are appealing alternatives to target date or balanced funds. Interest in Collective Investment Trusts (CITs), which are also known as […]
12 common 401(k) compliance errors
According to the IRS, the most common errors in connection with qualified plans, and specifically a 401(k) defined contribution plan, are as follows: Failure to update the required plan document to reflect required mandatory law changes governing 401(k) plans Failure to follow the terms of the plan document in operation, generally as to those common […]
New Endowment IndexTM Launched to Provide Independent Benchmark for Fiduciaries
Endowment IndexTM now available as a benchmarking tool for investors that manage multi-asset portfolios comprised of both traditional (stocks and bonds) and alternative (private equity, real assets, hedge funds) asset classes. Appleton, WI (PRWEB) May 22, 2014 Endowment Wealth ManagementTM, Inc. in collaboration with ETF Model SolutionsTM, LLC have launched the Endowment IndexTM (Symbol: ENDOW) as […]
Smart Beta or Strategic Beta?
Morningstar has put together the following matrix to help clarify the above, that we find very useful in our model portfolio construction:
