Prudential Investments Debuts Retirement Planning Tool

Prudential Investments, Newark, N.J.-based Prudential Financial's ($690 billion in assets under management) mutual fund business, has launched IPS Scorecard, a free tool designed to help financial advisors and their plan sponsor clients to assess whether investments offered through retirement plans, including 401(k) plans, are conform to the criteria in their investment policy statements (IPS).

"Financial advisors can play a critical role in helping plan sponsors to build and maintain retirement plans for employees,” says Michael Rosenberg, who leads Prudential Investments’ defined contribution plan selling efforts. “Most important, with the right tools, advisors can provide vital information to help their plan sponsor clients decide why they should include or exclude investment choices from retirement plans."

The IPS Scorecard provides institutional-quality reports that measure a range of selected criteria, including performance risk measures, portfolio manager tenure, expense ratios and others, according to a Prudential statement. Prudential created the tool exclusively for financial advisors who are looking to provide their plan sponsor clients with valuable support to defined contribution plans of any size, the statement says.

"Helping plan sponsors to employ and document good decision-making processes as they choose investment options for their organizations’ retirement plans may be the most important service a financial advisor can provide," Rosenberg adds. "That goes a long way to helping these clients address their fiduciary responsibilities."

The IPS Scorecard is the most recent addition to a suite of tools for financial advisors and complements Prudential’s Investment Review, which analyzes the mix of mutual funds in a retirement plan portfolio. For more information, advisors may call the Prudential Investments Sales Desk at 800-257-3893 and view a sample IPS Scorecard on the password-protected section of the company’s Web site at PrudentialFunds.com.

The image below represents a mock-up of a page within the tool and contains no actual client information.

Anthony O'Donnell has covered technology in the insurance industry since 2000, when he joined the editorial staff of Insurance & Technology. As an editor and reporter for I&T and the InformationWeek Financial Services of TechWeb he has written on all areas of information ... View Full Bio