Nationwide and Morningstar Retirement Team Up to Introduce Advisor Managed Accounts

Columbus, OH – Today’s workers are seeking personalized help with meeting their distinct retirement goals. Nationwide is teaming up with Morningstar Retirement to help financial advisors meet participants’ unique needs and help drive improved outcomes. Financial advisors who work with institutional and governmental retirement plan clients can now leverage Morningstar Retirement’s advisor managed accounts service through Nationwide, enabling them to deliver professional advice and savings strategies for plan participants in an easy, accessible way.

Four in 10 participants struggle with understanding how much they’ll need to save to reach their retirement goals, according to recent Nationwide Retirement Institute® research.¹ With advisor managed accounts, participants will receive personalized retirement strategies, powered by Morningstar Retirement’s engine and methodologies, packaged with the expertise and consultation from their plan’s advisor to create and implement customized portfolios based on their needs.

“Managed Accounts are designed to help participants feel confident that they have the right strategies in place when it comes to saving and investing for retirement,” said Craig Hawley, senior vice president of Retirement Solutions Sales at Nationwide. “Through this collaboration with Morningstar Retirement, we’re able to offer a service that combines the best of both worlds: personalized advice and professional management from a trusted advisor and our award-winning service.² This service exemplifies our commitment to supporting financial professionals as they service and grow their plans.”

In addition to offering advisors greater autonomy over clients’ financial strategies, this service is also interactive and cost-effective. Advisors can closely collaborate with Plan Sponsors, demonstrating the value they offer in helping participants reach their retirement objectives, as well as monitor clients’ strategies online. Plans do not incur any additional cost for offering the service to participants as part of their overall benefits package and workers who enroll pay account management fees that are competitive with similar services on the open market.³

For Plan Sponsors, advisor managed accounts offers their employees the resources and personalized support needed to help meet their retirement goals. This can translate to better work results, too, as 73% of workers say their financial concerns severely impact their productivity at work.⁴

 “We are excited to collaborate with Nationwide to advance our commitment to improving the retirement planning process for investors,” said Brock Johnson, president of Global Retirement at Morningstar Investment Management LLC. "This service empowers advisors to help plan participants reach their retirement goals and deliver personalized and efficient retirement planning advice.”

Morningstar Retirement’s advisor managed accounts allows registered investment adviser firms and their advisors to offer a co-branded managed accounts service to their retirement plan clients that aligns with the firm’s investment expertise and philosophies.

Advisor managed accounts is the newest managed account alternative offered by Nationwide. Nationwide has been offering its ProAccount^® managed accounts service since 2006. Both services are designed to help take the guesswork out of retirement investing and keep participants on track to achieve their goals.

Advisors or Plan Sponsors interested in learning more about leveraging this new advisor managed account service can click here.

Morningstar Retirement empowers investor success by providing research- and technology-driven products and services that help individuals reach their retirement goals. Advisory services are provided by Morningstar Investment Management LLC, a registered investment adviser and subsidiary of Morningstar, Inc.

Nationwide Retirement Solutions administers nearly 32,000 retirement plans, helping protect more than $200 billion in participant assets, and helping secure financial futures for over 2.7 million participants in the governmental 457, corporate 401(k) and not-for-profit 403(b) markets. Nationwide is committed to serving the retirement industry by doing the right thing at the right time through better participant experiences, administrative simplicity and values that translate to service.