Boston-based Fidelity Institutional, the division of Fidelity Investments that provides clearing, custody and investment management products to advisors, has announced a new collaboration with LearnVest intended to help advisors digitize their practices.

LearnVest is a web-based financial planning company that aims to connect middle-income investors across the country with a financial planner who provides them with a customized investment program. Investors can then utilize LearnVest’s online tools and resources to implement the planner’s recommendations.

The new relationship between the two companies allows Fidelity advisors to offer clients access to LearnVest’s educational “financial wellness” site, and for those clients to receive preferred pricing to access LearnVest’s financial planning program.

According to Fidelity research, over half of advisors plan to target emerging affluent and mass affluent investors in the next few years. This segment of investors, between the ages of 21 and 50 years old, are comfortable transacting online, and the arrangement with LearnVest is intended to help advisors grow their businesses by building strategies to attract these clients.

“Advisors are seeking out efficient and scalable solutions to help the next generation of clients get engaged in improving their own financial outcomes,” said Michael Durbin, president, Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services. “LearnVest‘s focus on making financial services broadly accessible and effective in helping people live the lives they want aligns with Fidelity’s mission and with the values of the nearly 10,000 advisory firms we serve.”


IRI Unveils Elder Abuse Protection Center
Washington, D.C.-based Insured Retirement Institute (IRI) has developed a new web-based resource center focused on protecting older investors. The site, which is tailored toward financial professionals and consumers, features the latest information and research regarding diminished capacity detection and financial elder abuse prevention.

“IRI has compiled the best resources from nonprofit groups, regulators and government agencies to create a one-stop shop focused on protecting older investors,” said Cathy Weatherford, president and CEO of IRI.

The resource center is available at http://irionline.org/protecting-older-investors/.


Thomson Reuters Expands Thomson ONE Anywhere
Thomson Reuters has expanded its Thomson ONE Anywhere mobile solution so advisors can now access market and client information on their smartphones. Features of the new service include access to real-time market monitoring, charting, Reuters News and the ability to trade.

Earlier this year, Thomson Reuters provided advisors access via their iPad and Android tablets. This new addition to the organization’s wealth management platform is intended to provide advisors with a complete suite of products to manage daily brokerage operations, including customer on-boarding, compliance and regulatory management.


Lincoln Financial Enhances Deferred Income Annuity
Radnor, Pa.-based Lincoln Financial Group has made some changes to its Deferred Income Solutions Annuity designed to help advisors prepare their clients for the uncertainties that may come with living longer.

The changes include a flexible premium payment option that offers clients the choice of spreading premiums over multiple years at any frequency. A shorter minimum deferral period of 13 months has also been added, giving clients the ability to begin receiving payments sooner if needed.


Franklin Templeton’s Social Security Optimizer
Franklin Templeton’s new Social Security Optimizer tool is intended to help advisors produce a withdrawal strategy for clients that could lead to greater total lifetime benefits. By analyzing a range of variables, advisors can customize the proposed strategy to align more closely with a client’s specific retirement resources and goals.

“It is imperative that financial advisors be involved in their clients’ decisions about when to stop working and when to begin receiving the Social Security benefits for which they are eligible. These are choices that will permanently impact a client’s monthly income throughout their retirement,” said Gail Buckner, Franklin Templeton’s financial planning spokesperson.


Jackson Adds Two New Apps
Denver-based, Jackson National Life Insurance Company has added two new tools to its suite of digital resources for advisors and consumers.

The Jackson app offers mobile access to information regarding the firm’s products, and the Retirement Hub app provides interactive educational content for investors on a variety of financial topics.

The digital tools are part of Jackson’s educational campaign, which aims to meet increasing demand from both advisors and their clients for usable and relevant content on topics such as saving, investing and retirement.