Manager of managers adds more life-cycle increments

FWR Staff

26 March 2008

Russell extends LifePoints family to include five-year steps through 2045. Russell Investment Group has added half a dozen new funds to its LifePoints multi-manager life-cycle funds. The new funds give investors a broader selection of retirement-year specific strategies.

The new funds are 2015, 2025, 2035, 2045 and 2050 strategy funds and an "In Retirement" fund. The numbers refer to retirement-target years.

More precise

The "In Retirement" fund, pretty obviously, is meant for investors who have already retired. It's designed to support an inflation-adjusted average annual withdrawal rate of 4% of initial investment before fees over about 20 years -- but there's nothing to guarantee this rate of return.

"Our intent with these new funds is to make it easier for plan sponsors to offer more portfolio options and for plan participants to be able to immediately identify which of the options is most appropriate for them, based upon their anticipated retirement date," says Matt Smith, head of Russell's retirement-service group. "When these products first emerged, it was appropriate to offer them in ten-year increments given the dynamics of the market at the time."

The new funds join pre-existing LifePoints portfolios target-dated to the years 2010, 2020, 2030 and 2040.

Tacoma, Wash.-based Russell is a subsidiary of Milwaukee-based Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance. It managed nearly $228 billion at the end of 2007. -FWR

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