Models-based acct firm rolls out approach to investing for multiple goals. Fractional-share managed account platform provider Curian Capital has launched something it calls the Curian Custom Wealth Platform, which gives investors an aggregated view of the Curian holdings. It's meant to help advisors integrate the firm's Custom Style Portfolios with new Curian investments with the aim of arriving at an investment plan that "outlines the risk tolerance and asset allocation for multiple investment goals," according to a Curian press release.

Piecemeal

"[Although] most clients have multiple investment goals with varying time horizons, the standard approach to investing has typically been to put all of the household's assets into one portfolio and assign a single risk tolerance and asset allocation," says Curian's strategic development chief Chris Rosato "Curian's Custom Wealth Platform takes a broader approach by allowing clients to invest according to the specific goal -- whether it's saving for a child's college education or a home remodeling project -- that is associated with each portion of their assets."

Investors using Curian's new platform are supposed to consider goals associated with each portion of their assets, then work with their advisor to create a Custom Wealth Plan consisting of separate goal-specific portfolios, each with its own risk tolerance and asset allocation.

Denver-based Curian, a subsidiary of Lansing, Mich.-based Jackson National Life(JNL), had around $2.7 billion in assets under management at the end of June 2009. JNL is owned by the U.K. banking and insurance company Prudential -- which has nothing to do with the Jersey City, N.J.-based insurance and asset-management giant Prudential Financial. -FWR

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