IBBOTSON’S GOAL: MOM AND POP

Roger Ibbotson may be a legend in financial circles, but he’s gunning to become a household name among individual investors.

Mr. Ibbotson — whose firm sells financial software, research and consulting services to brokerages, mutual fund shops and advisers — is set to begin providing asset-allocation recommendations to individuals in 401(k) plans.

Last year, he struck a deal with the Los Angeles-based Trust Co. of the West, which runs the TCW fund family, to provide asset-allocation recommendations to its 401(k) plan participants. Mr. Ibbotson says he is negotiating similar deals with other fund purveyors, noting they must get approval from the Department of Labor in order to provide investors with asset-allocation advice. That’s so they don’t devise programs that direct clients to funds with the highest fees, he explains.

“It’s a smart move because it’s an extension of what they (Ibbotson Associates) have been doing,” says William Dougherty, president of a competing retirement plan consulting firm, Kanon Bloch Care of Boston.

Still, Mr. Ibbotson, 55, risks alienating some of his existing customers, including planners who use his asset-allocation software. Another challenge, Mr. Dougherty says, will be getting big fund companies, many of which already offer investors some form of asset-allocation help, to sign on.

“There are a million models out there where you can go in and fill out a questionnaire and it tells you what to do,” he adds.