Great-West Retirement Services Launches SecureFoundation
GREENWOOD VILLAGE, CO, February 5, 2010 -- Great-West Retirement Services has introduced a new set of guaranteed income investment options, SecureFoundationSM that can protect participants' retirement income when the market drops, allow them to benefit when it goes up, and can provide them a retirement income for life, announced Charlie Nelson, president of Great-West Retirement Services.
"Unlike some competitors who took a retail guaranteed income product and retrofitted it for an employer retirement plan, we built SecureFoundation specifically for the defined contribution market so it's both portable and easy for plan sponsors to add," Nelson said. "In fact, adding SecureFoundation to an investment lineup is just like adding any other fund."
George Walper, president of the Spectrem Group, remarked, "By supporting discussions with Spectrem and others in the industry regarding key issues such as the data feeds that enable portability, Great-West Retirement Services has taken a leadership role in addressing the portability issue. There's been a growing interest in these types of investment options, so it's important that they be portable."
The Obama Administration also recognizes the importance of guaranteed income investment options. Its recently announced retirement initiatives call for promoting the availability of annuities and other forms of guaranteed lifetime income. "The volatile markets created an awareness of and appreciation for guaranteed income products such as SecureFoundation," Nelson said. "As the Administration points out, these products help reduce the risks that retirees will outlive their savings."
SecureFoundation appeals to plan sponsors as well. For example, by offering a guaranteed income investment option within a defined contribution plan, SecureFoundation can help address a plan sponsor's fiduciary responsibilities, he said. The guaranteed income investment options include a portfolio of lifetime asset allocation funds and a balanced portfolio. Plan sponsors may include one or both of these guaranteed income investment options, and they may determine if it is appropriate to select one of them as the qualified default investment alternative for their plan. SecureFoundation has low or no plan-level fees. As with most other funds, participants pay only the fund management fee, and as applicable, they pay the guaranteed benefit fee.
With the addition of SecureFoundation, Great-West Retirement Services is one of the first providers to offer a complete suite of services to help participants through each phase of their retirement saving lifecycle. Its Reality Investing® Lifetime Solutions suite guides participants from accumulation, to preparing for retirement, through retirement.
"Reality Investing Lifetime Solutions is a consistent, behavior-based methodology that addresses participants' individual retirement savings goals," Nelson said. "Unlike many current offerings where the managed account, lifetime asset allocation, and retirement income offering all use different asset allocation and underlying assumptions for participant behavior, Reality Investing Lifetime Solutions uses a consistent approach and methodology for guidance, advice, managed account, lifetime asset allocation and retirement income products. It enables plan sponsors to rest assured that they're able to meet the changing needs of their employees with a consistent approach."
About Great-West Retirement Services
Great-West Retirement Services, a business unit of Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Company, is the fourth-largest retirement plan record keeper in the United States, based on total participants at year-end 2008, according to a ranking by Spectrem Group. In all, Great-West Retirement Services provided 401k, 401(a), 403(b) and 457 retirement plan services to more than 22,000 plans representing nearly 4.2 million participants and $116 billion in assets at Sept. 30, 2009.
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