Matrix Financial Solutions, based in Denver, has released ERISA Fiduciary Issues: A Practice Guide for Advisors, which outlines what it means to be an ERISA fiduciary and what responsibilities come along with the role.

“Advisors who structure their businesses with additional tools to help a plan sponsor with fiduciary responsibility have a significant opportunity to grow those businesses,” says Cindy Dash, the COO of Matrix.

The guide offers an in-depth look into ERISA fiduciary rules and standards that may apply when advisors are delivering investment advice to retirement plan clients. It also details a three-step action plan for advisors to review their current business models and strengthen their value propositions with an expanded set of services specifically designed to help plan sponsors.
 
“As plan sponsors, companies and employers gain a heightened understanding of their fiduciary obligations, they are looking for specialized support and guidance from retirement plan advisors,” Dash explains. “As a result, it’s critical for advisors to know when their plan sponsor clients are acting as fiduciaries and what steps they must take to avoid breaching their duties.”

In an era of regulatory mandates, economic uncertainty and dwindling confidence among America’s workers about their ability to retire, fiduciaries will play a key role in helping those workers safeguard their assets. The increased scrutiny they face will bring challenges and business risks. But it will also give them opportunities to expand their businesses.

GBI Advisors Precious Metals Platform
Gold Bullion International has launched a new online platform, GBI Advisors, that allows advisors to buy, sell and store physical precious metals on behalf of their clients. Bars and coins of gold, silver, platinum and palladium are acquired through a competitive institutional dealer network, allocated to the client’s name and stored on behalf of investors in one of six protected and insured vaults worldwide. For more information about GBI Advisors visit: http://www.advisors.bullioninternational.com

Genworth’s New GPS Select Solution
Genworth Financial Wealth Management’s new GPS Select Solutions is a suite of multi-strategy portfolios designed to help investors grow their wealth, generate income or pursue other specific investment goals. The suite has seven portfolios that offer either an investment strategy for a broad goal or a targeted complement to other holdings. The Select Accumulation Plus portfolio, for example, offers a comprehensive solution to grow wealth, while the Select Low Volatility portfolio is focused on capital preservation. Other portfolios in the suite include the GPS Select Accumulation fund, the Select Retirement Income fund, the Select Wealth Preservation fund, the Select Multi-Asset Income fund and the Select Tactical Advantage fund.

CNL Securities Updates Web Site
CNL Securities’ new Web site provides tools and resources to help financial advisors educate investors about alternative investments. The site includes material that advisors can use to explain the role that non-traded REITs and business development companies (BDCs) can play in a portfolio. Included is a video overview explaining what a BDC is, informational pieces on private debt as an investment class, and other information that investors and advisors can use to better understand this type of investment. The new site is available at www.CNLSecurities.com

Curian’s Auto Tax Harvesting Tool
Curian’s new automated tax harvesting tool is designed to reduce clients’ tax burden and help them retain more of their money in their portfolios. Tax harvesting happens when investors sell securities to realize capital losses, then use these to offset capital gains and other investment income and lower their overall capital gains tax liability for the year. When clients select the auto tax harvesting feature, their accounts will automatically sell securities that have dropped in value and make the losses available to offset other gains they’ve realized.

W&S Enhances Wealth Transfer Solution Cincinnati, Ohio-based W&S
Financial Group’s Legacy Forward II is a new single-premium universal life insurance policy. For assets intended to be passed to beneficiaries, the policy leverages one premium payment to create a larger guaranteed death benefit.

“Legacy Forward II combines chronic and terminal illness benefits with the income-tax-free death benefit of life insurance,” says Mark Caner, president of W&S Financial Group Distributors. “It represents a guaranteed method for transferring assets tax-free to a named beneficiary such as a family member or a charity.”