Morningstar has held talks with Invest n Retire, a Portland, Ore.-based recordkeeping firm and retirement plan investment provider, to provide consulting services to independent financial advisors who want to construct co-branded portfolios of exchange-traded mutual funds for defined contribution plans.
If the talks lead to a deal, Morningstar stands to deepen its foothold outside of its traditional mutual fund roots since acquiring Ibbotson Associates late last year. Invest n Retire can expect national visibility, said Darwin Abrahamson, ceo and founder. “I’m looking to help them cement their name in the 401(k) market with advisors who already use their software and it would give us a huge recognition,” Abrahamson said.
Invest n Retire has prepared for the talks by expanding support for its customized ETF portfolio reporting services. The firm has added application service provider capabilities that enable advisors to download model portfolios into Morningstar’s flagship Principia investment research database.
Invest n Retire now downloads model portfolios into a new Morningstar tool dubbed Principia Defined Contribution, which launched in October. “I thought his idea was interesting and was impressed with what he was doing.” said Jeff Strazis, national account manager at Morningstar, who met with Abrahamson.
Principia currently offers analysis and benchmarking services for mutual funds and will soon extend its basic coverage to group variable annuities sold inside 401(k) plans, Strazis said. Retire, which previously listed its model portfolios on Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, now e-mails the data to advisors in PDF format and larded up with additional benchmark comparison data--a boon for fiduciary-conscious investment professionals--stored in Principia. “It’s just a handshake deal [between Invest n Retire and Morningstar] at this point,” Abrahamson said.