Putnam Investments Launches Target-Date Fund Tool
Putnam Investments, a global money management firm headquartered in Boston, has officially launched TargetDateVisualizer, an evaluation tool designed to help advisors more accurately analyze target-date fund glide paths.
Plan sponsors can use the tool to select appropriate target-date mutual funds and collective investment trusts (CITs) for inclusion in workplace savings plans, basing the selection on specific risk-tolerance and investment preferences. The tool provides greater insight into the underlying investment glide paths of more than 100 different target-date strategies.
The tool uses an interactive framework that asks a few key questions about the plan participant’s investment philosophy and risk preferences, in both the early and late stages of his or her working life. It then analyzes the glide path of every target-date strategy, in mutual funds or CITs that boast at least a three-year track record (there are 108 vehicles in total at present). The final output provides a detailed analysis that will allow advisors to document the entire review or selection process for their clients.
Crypto Estate Planning Comes To Market
Two Ocean Trust, a Wyoming-chartered trust company, has partnered with Anchorage Digital to offer a first-of-its-kind trust and estate planning solution for crypto asset holders.
Known as the COIN Trust (“COIN” stands for Crypto-Optimized Irrevocable Non-Grantor), the offering brings together the benefits of comprehensive trust and estate planning strategies, managed by Two Ocean Trust, with the secure digital asset custody platforms powered by Anchorage Digital.
The COIN Trust provides many features and benefits specifically tailored to a crypto-investment environment, including multi-signature private key management; institutional-grade trade execution; systematic performance and tax reporting; and access to favorable trust, estate planning and tax laws integrated into a pro-crypto regulatory and legal framework.
Two Ocean Trust is based in Jackson, Wyo. Anchorage Digital is the first federally chartered crypto bank and is headquartered in San Francisco.
WisdomTree Launches Alternative Income Fund
WisdomTree Investments Inc., an exchange-traded product sponsor and asset manager in New York City, is now offering the WisdomTree Alternative Income Fund (HYIN) on the Chicago Board Options Exchange. The fund has an expense ratio of 3.20% before fees and expenses.
The fund seeks to track the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the Gapstow Liquid Alternative Credit Index. Gapstow Capital Partners, a New York City-based boutique investment consultancy focused on opportunities within the alternative credit asset class, created this equal-weighted index to track the performance of the debt and debt-based securities of approximately 35 publicly traded alternative credit vehicles, such as business development companies, REITs and closed-end funds.
As yields have sagged in Treasurys, corporate bonds and equities, the HYIN fund offers potential yield advantages while providing a moderate-to-low correlation to equity and fixed-income markets.
FMG And Subsidiary Launch Marketing Tool
FMG Suite, a San Diego-based company specializing in marketing software and services for financial professionals, and its recently acquired brand Twenty Over Ten, have launched an SEC-compliant digital marketing solution to leverage customer testimonials.
The SEC’s recently updated marketing rule now permits investment advisors to use testimonials and endorsements, which include traditional referral and solicitation activity, subject to certain conditions.
Advisory customers will have access to testimonial page templates that showcase a roundup of customer testimonials, a home page carousel capable of displaying multiple customer testimonials and a Google reviews button allowing website visitors to view existing testimonials or add new ones.
The tools and resources are for use by RIAs and by affiliates of broker-dealers that have approved their use.
Homestead Funds Launches Rural America Investment Fund
Homestead Funds, an Arlington, Va.-based mutual fund company with $2.7 billion in assets as of March 31, 2021, has launched a new fund designed to promote investment in rural America.
Homestead Funds developed the Rural America Growth & Income Fund to allow Americans to invest in businesses and sectors tied to the rural communities in which they live and work.
The fund will employ an active management approach to investing primarily in equity and fixed-income securities of companies that are important to the economic development of rural America.
Dynasty Adds Network RIA Minority Investment Program To Platform
Dynasty Financial Partners, a St. Petersburg, Fla.-based platform and consultant to independent advisors, is expanding its suite of capital solutions by adding a new program that provides capital to RIAs by taking minority stakes in its network partner firms. This adds to Dynasty’s programs offering traditional debt financing and non-controlling revenue interests.
In the last year, minority stake transactions involving RIAs have more than tripled as firms take advantage of attractive market valuations and an influx of capital, Dynasty said in a news release. The new program offers a valuable capital solution for a variety of strategic needs RIA owners might have for liquidity or M&A and succession plans.