Dow Jones Launches Wealth Manager Product

Dow Jones & Co. has launched a product for financial advisors to help them increase contact with their clients.

Dow Jones Wealth Manager enables advisors to build deeper relationships with clients and prospects through communication and assists firms in increasing total assets under management, the company says.

Wealth Manager lets advisors use their knowledge of their clients‚ goals and interests to generate thoughtful reasons for calls and e-mail. Advisors profile their clients and prospects, and then the browser-based application continuously maps Dow Jones‚ news and information–Dow Jones Newswires, The Wall Street Journal, Barron‚s and SmartMoney–to these personalized profiles.

Firms also will be able to integrate their proprietary research into Wealth Manager and link it to key client profiles and holdings. The advisor then decides how and when to reach out to clients.

Dow Jones Wealth Manager was developed in conjunction with Client Dynamics, a company based in Irvine, Calif., that offers client management software.

To learn more about Dow Jones Wealth Manager, visit the Web site djnewswires.com/wealthmanager or call (800) 223-2274.

 

MassMutual AddsTo Variable Annuities

The MassMutual Financial Group Companies, based in Springfield, Mass., has added four new funds to its variable annuity line-up.

The funds are for MassMutual Transitions, Panorama Passage, Panorama Premier and MassMutual Artistry variable annuities. The funds are the MML Inflation-Protected Bond Fund, the American Funds Asset Allocation Fund (Class 2), the American Funds Growth-Income Fund (Class 2) and the Franklin Small Cap Value Securities Fund (Class 2). The MML Inflation-Protected Bond Fund invests primarily in Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities and is subadvised by David L. Babson & Company Inc. The Asset Allocation Fund and the Growth-Income Fund are part of the American Funds Insurance Series. Franklin Temple-ton Investments manages the Frank-lin Small Cap Value Securities Fund.

For more information on MassMutual, visit the Web site www.massmutual.com.

Member Benefits Added

Business Transitions LLC, a firm based in Portland, Ore., that offers online marketplaces for buyers and sellers of financial advisory, insurance and accounting practices, has implemented a seller‚s rating system and a messaging service.

The new sellers rating system is based on the number of buyer inquiries a seller responds to, and will appear prominently on every full-page seller‚s listing. "The number one complaint we receive is from buyers who don‚t get a response from a seller listing they inquire to," says Bill Grable, vice president of Business Transitions. "With over 30 inquiries per listing in many cases, sellers were being overwhelmed and often would not take the time to respond to every buyer. We listened, and we brought technology to the rescue."

To assist sellers in responding, the new Transitions Direct! Messaging Service feature allows a seller to respond to any number of buyers, simultaneously, directly and confidentially. For more information, visit the Web site www.BusinessTrans.com.

Retirement Planning Sales Tools

Torrid Technologies Inc. of Atlanta has released Version 3 of its Retirement Savings Planner 2004 Professional Edition software, a program financial advisors can use to educate clients about their retirement situation.

The 2004 edition allows an advisor to include in retirement planning an unlimited number of "cash infusions"–such as moving to a less expensive home at retirement, inheritances, retirement packages or severance, part-time jobs, real estate rental income, deferred compensation or any other situation that would provide either a lump sum or series of incoming payments.

For more information, visit www.torrid-tech.com.

Pershing Offers Newsletter Access

Pershing LLC, a member of BNY Securities Group and a subsidiary of The Bank of New York, now provides access to Virtual Office News through NetExchange Pro, its wealth management and trading platform. Virtual Office News is an electronic newsletter guide on how to increase office efficiency and realize savings on hardware and software purchases. For more information, visit the Web site www.pershing.com.