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New custom report cards grade retirement readiness

Plan sponsors and advisers use findings to assess participants’ retirement readiness

GREENWOOD VILLAGE, Colo., April 17, 2014 — In today’s competitive work environment, everyone’s looking for an edge. The world of finance and retirement services is no different. Armed with information from the Retirement Readiness Report Card, a plan sponsor and adviser can quickly set themselves apart by offering plan design strategies that address participants’ likelihood of being financially prepared for retirement.

The Retirement Readiness Report Card offered by registered investment adviser and Great-West Financial affiliate Advised Assets Group, LLC (AAG) is one of the hottest new services to hit the financial market. AAG engaged Ibbotson Associates, part of Morningstar’s Investment Management group, to help develop the Report Card.

Here’s how it works:

  1. AAG collects information the participants, plan sponsor and Great-West Financial provide.
  2. The information is uploaded into the Ibbotson Wealth Forecasting Engine, which uses asset allocation and human capital methodologies to aggregate and analyze savings and investment patterns to provide the data to AAG.
  3. Plan sponsors review the Report Card with their advisers. Together, they can take action to adjust the retirement plan and participant communications to address any weaknesses. Then they can track quarterly progress.

The Report Card tracks four participant attributes to gauge a plan’s retirement readiness: investment portfolio allocation, savings rate, years to retirement and income replacement percentage. “By adjusting attributes as needed, the plan sponsor and adviser can address participants’ overall retirement readiness,” said Charles Nelson, president, Retirement Services for Great-West Financial.

This new service, which helps plan sponsors and advisers evaluate and address a plan’s overall retirement readiness, complements Great-West Financial’s Retirement Income Control Panel, which helps participants evaluate and address their own, personal retirement readiness.

“The Report Card allows plan sponsors and advisers to examine the fundamental metrics of retirement readiness and pinpoint areas where they can address participant outcomes for the better,” said Brock Johnson, president of retirement solutions for Morningstar.

The Report Card is available free of charge to plans that use Advised Assets Group’s Advisory Services.
 

About Great-West Financial
Great-West Financial® is a registered mark of Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Company. Headquartered in metro Denver, Great-West Financial administers $243.5 billion in assets for its 5.4 million retirement, insurance and annuity customers.

Great-West Financial is the nation’s second largest underwriter of life insurance sold through banks (BISRA Life Report, Fourth Quarter 2013, based on total premiums at Dec. 31, 2013) and fourth-largest retirement plan record keeper (Pensions & Investments, March 3, 2014, based on total participant accounts at Sept., 30, 2013). It is an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Great-West Lifeco Inc. and "A Member of the Power Financial Corporation Group of Companies" ®.


Great-West Financial® refers to products and services provided by Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Company (GWL&A), Corporate Headquarters: Greenwood Village, CO, its subsidiaries and affiliates. Recordkeeping information and rankings reflect all recordkeeping customers of GWL&A subsidiary FASCore, LLC: those of institutional partners, third-party administrator clients and Great-West Financial. The trademarks, logos, and registered marks used are owned by GWL&A. "A Member of the Power Financial Corporation Group of Companies" is the registered mark of Power Corporation of Canada.

About Advised Assets Group, LLC
Advised Assets Group, LLC (AAG) is a federally registered investment adviser that provides investment advisory services to defined contribution plan sponsors and plan participants nationwide. AAG offers a comprehensive range of personalized investment advisory tools and solutions designed to help plan sponsors and their participants maximize their retirement plan options while minimizing risk in an increasingly complex investment climate. AAG is a wholly owned subsidiary of Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Company. More information can be found at www.adviserinfo.sec.gov.

About Ibbotson Associates, Inc. 
Ibbotson Associates, Inc. is a registered investment adviser and wholly owned subsidiary of Morningstar, Inc. It is part of the Morningstar Investment Management group, which creates custom investment solutions that combine award-winning research and global resources with proprietary Morningstar data. The Morningstar Investment Management group provides comprehensive retirement, investment advisory, and portfolio management services for financial institutions, plan sponsors, and advisors around the world. As of Dec. 31, 2013, Morningstar, Inc.’s registered investment advisor subsidiaries had approximately $159 billion in assets under advisement and management.

Neither Ibbotson Associates nor Morningstar is affiliated with Great-West Financial.


Contact:

Molly Schlax
FleishmanHillard
O: 312-729-3661
M: 847-309-9552
Molly.Schlax@fleishman.com		 Lisa Gigax
Director, Corporate Communications
Great-West Financial
O: (303) 737-6290
lisa.gigax@greatwest.com