Wilshire Launches Managed Account Product

October 16, 2006 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Wilshire Associates on Monday announced the launch of Wilshire RetirePath, a retirement managed account (RMA) product.

A Wilshire news release said the RMA is being offered to plan sponsors, providers and participants.

Wilshire will use its proprietary Asset-Liability Valuation (ALV) approach to portfolio design, according to the announcement. For Wilshire RetirePath, the firm has translated the concept of the liability or pension commitment to the individual’s spending needs at retirement.

In short, this “needs-based” optimization (NBO) minimizes the individual’s cost of retirement and maximizes their likelihood of meeting their desired retirement objectives. As opposed to optimizing purely on the risk and return characteristics of asset classes,NBO includes an individual’s benefit streams when creating an asset allocation policy, Wilshire said.

The attention paid to lifetime income streams and methodology used is similar to that in a recent Fidelity Investments product announcement. Fidelity unveiled its Lifetime Income Solutions (FLIS), an out-of-plan annuities selection program designed to help plan sponsors provide participants a way to convert some of their retirement savings into guaranteed lifetime income (See Fidelity Offers Plan Participants Annuities for Retirement Income ).

Wilshire RetirePath also employs an approach which maximizes a portfolio information ratio consistent with a defined risk budget and allows Wilshire to select managers for the portfolio mix on a risk-adjusted basis, the announcement said.

The company said that the product features minimal data entry, managed savings, support for auto-enrollment and support for targeted marketing communications.

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