Lipper to launch online retirement tool

Lipper Inc. today is announcing the launch of Lipper Retirement Insight, a web-based tool for financial advisers that…

Lipper Inc. today is announcing the launch of Lipper Retirement Insight, a web-based tool for financial advisers that includes programs for investment management.
The New York-based fund research company said that the program features include client-specific investment policy statements, reports on current and prospective plan investments, fund fact sheets and monthly or quarterly performance reports.
The target audience for the tool is advisers who work with employers in 401(k) plans, but Richard Malconian, global head of retirement services for Lipper, said he wants to introduce this product to other advisers, as well.
“If I’m an investment adviser, and I’ve got a portfolio of individuals, I need to be sure I’m monitoring all of their investments,” he said. “This tool would be applicable for wealth management.”
Lipper covers 150,000 share classes and evaluates more than 80,000 funds.

New ETFS track FTSE NAREIT indexes
Barclays Global Investors
of San Francisco on Friday announced that five iShares exchange traded funds designed to track the FTSE NAREIT indexes had begun trading.
The new iShares Funds provide exposure to the U.S. real estate investment trust market.
They are the iShares FTSE NAREIT Industrial/Office Index Fund, the iShares FTSE NAREIT Mortgage REITs Index Fund, the iShares FTSE NAREIT Real Estate 50 Index Fund, the iShares FTSE NAREIT Residential Index Fund and the iShares FTSE NAREIT Retail Index Fund. The ETFs all have an expense ratio of 0.48%.
“REIT exposure generally offers several useful portfolio attributes, such as lower correlation to the broad equity and bond markets, along with higher dividend yield,” Noel Archard, head of product development at iShares, said in a statement. “The iShares FTSE NAREIT funds should provide investors with income and portfolio diversification benefits in a cost-effective manner.”