Product Watch: Practice final exams for Series 7 available online

Thirteen Series 7 practice final exams, part of the New York-based Securities Training Corp.’s printed study materials, are now available online and on CD-ROM.

The new formats enable users to take exams in timed test mode, or open book, with im- mediate feedback after each question.

Both the online and CD-ROM versions include diagnostics that pinpoint areas of weakness.

Students can then focus on areas requiring more study by selecting from 22 key-topic tests.

A choice of any two formats costs $275.

Morningstar unveils fund graphics tool

* Morningstar Inc. in Chicago has unveiled Morningstar Ownership Zone, a graphics tool that gives investors a more complete picture of a mutual fund’s holdings.

Created by the firm’s research team, a fund’s ownership zone is derived by plotting each stock in the fund’s portfolio within the proprietary Morningstar style box.

The area in which most of the holdings fall is shaded to provide an intuitive representation of the area of the market in which the fund invests.

A red dot in the middle of the zone represents the weighted average of all the fund’s holdings.

Hancock expands LTC discount list

* John Hancock Financial Services Inc. in Boston has enhanced its Advantage List program, which provides discounts to Hancock policyholders at thousands of long-term-care providers nationwide.

The program will be offered in collaboration with LifePlans Inc., a Boston-based provider of long-term-care risk management services.

LifePlans will add new providers to the Advantage List and negotiate deeper discounts with existing providers.

ICI enhances public-policy site

* The Investment Company Institute in Washington has upgraded its public policy website.

The ICI Mutual Fund Connection (visitici.org) will now provide highlights of recent industry developments, quick reference drop-down menus and direct links to “Investing for Success” web courses in both English and Spanish.

Financial Profiles adds graphics tool

* Financial Profiles Inc., a San Diego-based provider of financial planning solutions, has integrated its Profiles+ Forecaster software with the forthcoming release of Powertrak Wealth Management V6.0. from Axonom Inc. of Minneapolis.

The integrated product will enable users to analyze and graphically represent their clients’ present financial situations.

Lincoln tweaks annuity feature

* Lincoln Retirement in Fort Wayne, Ind., has launched a second-generation enhancement to its flagship variable-annuity feature, Income4Life Solution.

Called i4LIFE Advantage, the feature combines the lifetime income benefits of defined-benefit plans with the access associated with defined-contribution plans in a tax-efficient income program.

Refco offers lineup of alternatives

* Refco Group Ltd. LLC, a privately held futures firm in New York, is offering a lineup of structured and alternative investments that incorporate hedge funds, futures, currency and other derivative products.

Evergreen launches junk-bond fund

* Evergreen Investments in Boston has launched Evergreen Income Advantage Fund, a closed-end high-yield-bond fund.

The fund began trading Feb. 26 on the American Stock Exchange under the symbol EAD.

Phoenix tool targets small-biz advisers

* The Phoenix Cos. Inc. in Hartford, Conn., has unveiled a program for advisers who work with small-business owners.

The program, called Business of Wealth, is a marketing and support service that offers employee benefits and retirement planning.

It uses Phoenix’s High-Net-Worth Business Owner Life Cycle, a tool that identifies the needs of this segment. The first stage of the cycle is Business Entity, the start-up and growth years.

The second stage is Business Transition, when a company is sold or left to another owner or a family member. The third stage, Business Family Legacy, offers strategies for using the wealth generated by a business, when a family or owner wants to build a lasting legacy.

Schwab uses M-Pact online advisory tool

* Charles Schwab & Co. Inc. of San Francisco is using CheckFree Corp.’s web-based application for automating separate-accounts sales, advisory and proposal processes.

The Norcross, Ga.-based firm’s program, called M-Pact, provides tools for client profiling, asset-allocation modeling and proposal creation.

Separately, Charles Schwab Corporate Services has introduced Schwab Retirement Solutions to address the investing needs of retirement plan participants.

The program includes four new Schwab managed retirement trust funds -target retirement fund portfolios that are professionally managed on a fund level.

The new fund investment portfolios are subadvised by major institutional investment managers such as Pacific Investment Management Co. of Newport Beach, Calif., The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. of New York and INVESCO Funds Group Inc. of Denver.

Magnum to advise hedge fund pickers

* Magnum Asset Management Inc. in Aventura, Fla., has entered into a joint venture with Masters Research Partners LLC to co-manage Masters Research Partners LP, a $20 million fund of hedge funds based in Boca Raton, Fla.

The fund targets high-net-worth U.S. taxable investors as well as institutional investors, and is currently invested in eight funds across a variety of strategies.

Magnum will help clients of Masters Research Partners select hedge funds.

ING fund offers principal guarantee

* ING Funds in Scottsdale, Ariz., has launched a mutual fund with a five-year period of guarantee of principal.

The offering period for the ING Principal Protection Fund VI runs through April 15. The fund is open to investors only until then (for IRA transfers, the deadline is this Friday).

A quiet period follows the offering period through April 23, during which no new deposits will be accepted. Assets will remain invested in short-term investments allowing time to permit settlement of funds. The five-year guarantee period runs from April 24 through April 22, 2008.

Separately, ING U.S. Financial Services in Atlanta and Chicago-based Morningstar Inc. have launched a service that will provide solutions to retirement plan sponsors in the researching, selecting and monitoring of plan investments.

As part of the service, called Portfolio, Morningstar will provide ING plan sponsors with a menu of investment options based on their work force demographic profile.

Manulife expands universal-life lineup

* Manufacturers Life Insurance Company of New York has added to its universal life insurance lineup a product called Manulife New York UL-LC, which is for clients who seek an affordable universal life insurance product.

Amex raises limits for auto-execution

* The American Stock Exchange in New York has announced across-the-board hikes in the size limits available for automatic execution in the most actively traded option classes.

Orders of up to 250 contracts in the 50 most active option classes, and orders of up to 100 contracts in the next 50 most active classes can be routed to the Amex’s auto-execution system for options.

Automatic execution for blocks of those sizes will be available for both customer and broker-dealer orders.

401(k) risk tool targets providers

* The Normandie Group Inc. of Emeryville, Calif., has unveiled PlanTools INSTITUTIONAL, a risk management system with platform automation and advisory solutions for institutions that offer 401(k) administration and investment services to plan sponsors.

PlanTools enables institutions to provide third-party support of liability and compliance issues.

In addition, Normandie said PlanTools is being implemented by Columbia Trust Co., a part of the asset management arm of FleetBoston Financial Corp.