Pru, ICMA-RC to Co-Market Guaranteed Retirement Income

By Linda Koco

June 18, 2010 at 08:00 PM

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Prudential Financial Inc. and ICMA Retirement Corp. are planning to co-market a guaranteed retirement income solution to more than 8,000 public-sector retirement plans.

ICMA-RC, Washington, a non-for-profit company that sells retirement products and services to city and county governments, will offer the VantageTrust Retirement IncomeAdvantage Fund to existing retirement plan clients with plans that cover about 900,000 public-sector employees.

ICMA-RC will manage the fund, according to ICMA-RC and Prudential, Newark, N.J. (NYSE:PRU).

Prudential will provide an optional income guarantee for an extra cost, the companies say.

The ICMA-RC fund will be a balanced portfolio that invests in stock index and bond funds. The fund will be designed primarily for participants within 10 to 15 years of retirement, according to ICMA-RC and Prudential.

The optional guarantee will be provided by Prudential IncomeFlex, a group variable annuity issued by Prudential's Prudential Retirement Insurance and Annuity Company, Hartford. The VA contract will guarantee that plan participants can withdraw a designated amount from the annuity annually.

Guarantees are based on the claims-paying ability of the insurance company, Prudential says.

"By investing in this fund, participants in an ICMA-RC retirement plan can ultimately benefit from a level of lifetime income that cannot be outlived, will not decrease if the stock market declines, and may, in fact, increase if the market performs well," says Christine Marcks, president of Prudential's Prudential Retirement unit.

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