T. Rowe Price made its Retirement Income 2020 Fund publicly available.
The fund is designed for individual investors who are approaching retirement and would like to generate ongoing income from their accumulated retirement savings. This is accomplished through a managed-payout structure, which pays out monthly dividends based on an annual distribution rate.
"One of the biggest conundrums retirees face is striking the proper balance between receiving payouts from their savings and managing their asset depletion," Sebastien Page, head of T. Rowe Price's Asset Allocation Group, said in a statement. "We believe that this type of managed-payout fund could be a good choice for well-prepared retirees trying to navigate these competing priorities."
The Retirement Income 2020 Fund, which is initially available only for individual investor accounts, including IRAs, and not defined contribution retirement plan accounts, will invest in other T. Rowe Price funds that represent various asset classes and sectors.
The fund's allocation between T. Rowe Price stock and bond funds will change over time in relation to its 2020 target retirement date. The fund will have an identical investment profile to the existing T. Rowe Price Retirement 2020 Fund, including the same asset allocation, glide path and underlying funds.
The managed-payout structure of the fund allows for monthly dividend payments mid-month. The annual payout will be calculated September 30 of each year as 5% of the average monthly net asset value over the trailing five years. The calculation is intended to reduce the effects of market volatility on the income payments. Shareholders generally will receive notice of the anticipated fund-level monthly payout amounts for the upcoming calendar year prior to year-end.
The fund's net expense ratio is 0.74% and will initially be offered only with an Investor Class. Operating expenses will be capped at 0.25% at least through April 30, 2020.
AssetMark Launches Interactive Business Assessment Tool for Advisors
AssetMark, Inc. launched a free, online business assessment tool for financial advisors that will help them determine the estimated value of their businesses, identify areas of strength and pinpoint opportunities for improvement.
The tool is powered by AssetMark's proprietary Value Maximization Index, which assesses business risk factors and compares them versus top industry benchmarks. These comparisons help to pinpoint aspects of the business that may need attention including practice management, marketing, operations and staffing as well as an overall valuation score relative to industry benchmarks.
The tool also helps advisors evaluate merger and acquisition opportunities by providing a sophisticated view of business valuations. Additionally, AssetMark is offering free resources to help advisors identify ideal buyers or sellers, conduct due diligence and transition clients.
GSAM Launches ActiveBeta U.S. Small Cap Equity ETF
Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM) announced the launch of GSSC, the sixth product in its ActiveBeta suite of exchange traded funds (ETFs). The fund seeks to provide low-cost access to small capitalization U.S. equities by tracking GSAM's proprietary Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta U.S. Small Cap Equity Index.
The index seeks to overweight and underweight certain securities according to four well-established attributes of performance — value, momentum, quality and low volatility — while remaining broadly in-line with traditional market-cap weighted U.S. small cap indices.
GSSC began trading on the NYSE Arca on June 29 with $8 million in assets and an expense ratio of 20 basis points. It's passively managed by GSAM's Quantitative Investment Strategies team.
U.S. Global Investors Launches "GOAU" Gold Royalty ETF
U.S. Global Investors launched the U.S. Global GO GOLD and Precious Metal Miners ETF (GOAU). GOAU is a smart factor, passively managed fund that is designed to track the U.S. Global GO GOLD and Precious Metal Miners Index (GOAUX).
GOAUX is designed to capture the performance of companies engaged in the production of precious metals either through active (mining or production) or passive (owning royalties or production streams) means. The fund is rebalanced and reconstituted quarterly and has an expense ratio of 0.60%.
GOAU differentiates itself from its gold ETF competition by using a smart factor model that places special emphasis on firms showing the highest revenue per employee. This factor yields royalty and streaming companies, which U.S. Global considers to be the "smart money" of the metals and mining space.
