Putnam Investments on Monday released a series of three new retirement income funds and paired it with a planning tool for financial advisors. Dubbed "Putnam Retirement Income Lifestyle Funds 1, 2 and 3," the funds are ranked based on risk tolerance and use a combination of strategies to generate income.
Lifestyle 1 is the new name for Putnam's RetirementReady Maturity fund--the final Putnam Investments Introduces Customized Retirement Income Withdrawal Strategies fund in its target date series. It combines Putnam's Absolute Return 100, 300 and 500 funds, its Asset Allocation: Conservative portfolio and its money market fund.
Lifestyle 2 combines the Absolute Return 100, 300, 500 and 700 funds, domestic and international equities, fixed income and convertible securities.
Lifestyle 3, the renamed version of the Putnam Income Strategies Fund, uses the Absolute Return 700 fund, domestic and international equities, as well as fixed income and convertibles.
The suite of income funds can be used along with Putnam's retirement income analysis tool to provide financial advisors a variety of income strategies for their clients' retirement years. These include the ability to generate income while waiting for Social Security benefits to start, creating a sustainable stream of lifetime income based on expected longevity, and estimating related assets that can be earmarked for heirs.
Putnam's retirement income analysis tool will generate customized lifetime income projections by utilizing scenario-planning based on a number of determining factors: income needs; life expectancy; risk tolerance; and other key financial variables. The tool, when used by advisors, will then suggest possible investment solutions--varying in risk/return characteristics--from the new Putnam Retirement Income Lifestyle Funds suite.
Investors can combine aspects of all three funds for something customized, and they can also use the firm's planning tool, which will give retail advisers a range of customized drawdown strategies. "The suite is designed to provide retirees a financially secure retirement after a lifetime of working," Robert L. Reynolds, Putnam Investments' president and CEO, said in a statement.