MainStay to Launch Target Date Funds

June 26, 2007 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - New York Life Investment Management (NYLIM) has announced the creation of the MainStay Retirement Funds, a series of funds for target retirement dates of 2010, 2020, 2030, 2040 and 2050.

In addition to its own proprietary funds, MainStay portfolio managers will have access to unaffiliated managers to provide broader diversification of assets within the funds, according to the announcement.   Because of the non-proprietary allocation, MainStay Retirement Funds may include sub-sectors that many peer funds do not utilize such as commodities, real estate investment trusts (REITS), treasury inflation protected securities (TIPS), and market neutral strategies.

Each MainStay Retirement Fund glide path also includes allocations to multiple sectors within U.S. and international equity and fixed-income. The series will also have greater flexibility to respond to future market environments because the funds will not be tied to a static mix of underlying asset class weightings, the announcement said.

In addition, the MainStay Retirement Funds will have a higher total equity allocation than most available target date retirement funds, which could include the recently announced MainStay130/30 funds (See MainStay Unveils Three 130/30 Fund Offerings ).

“With the option to incorporate sophisticated institutional investment strategies into target date allocations – and with the ability to tap non-proprietary expertise – we’ve structured the funds to be flexible, diversified and to seek superior performance. This target date series is not only built to last, but to perform their job in an uncertain, long-term market environment,” said Tony Elavia, senior managing director and chief investment officer of NYLIM’s Equity Investors Group, and lead portfolio manager of the MainStay Retirement Funds, in the announcement.

During a recent PLANSPONSOR PLUGGED IN Webcast, Anne Lester, Senior Portfolio Manager at JPMorgan Global Multi-Asset Group, introduced research which showed diversification of assets within lifecycle funds was key to maximizing participants’ income replacement in retirement (See Feature: Special Supplement: Target-Date/Risk-Based Fund Guide: When You Assume ).

Webcast materials also include a link to PLANSPONSOR’s Lifestyle/Lifecycle Funds Buyer’s Guide (See When You Assume – Webcast Materials ).

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