GuidedChoice Announces "Reality Check" for Retirement Plan Participants

LA JOLLA, Calif., Sept. 19, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- GuidedChoice, a leading provider of investment advice, managed account services, and strategic solutions for retirement plans and individuals, has announced the launch of Retirement Readiness™, a new solution that lets retirement plan participants see where they stand on the path to retirement and helps them take action to improve their savings and investment strategies.

Research has clearly shown that while participation rates in 401(k) plans are at historically high levels, contribution rates and average balances remain too low to provide adequate retirement savings for many investors. Inducing these at-risk participants to plan more prudently has proven difficult, however. The new offering meets a need in the marketplace for a participant "reality check" that is both extremely clear and immediately actionable.

Leveraging the firm's expertise in behavioral finance, GuidedChoice designed the personalized assessment to meet the real-world preferences and responses of plan investors. To make it easy to read and understand, the report focuses on just a few key facts drawn from retirement plan data: projected retirement income (in today's dollars), savings rate, and portfolio diversification. To provide next-step actions appropriate for all participants, it offers both access to professional advice and management through the company's flagship GuidedSavings™ solution, and a streamlined option to implement simple savings and investment changes immediately.

"Providing a retirement 'reality check' is not a brand-new idea, but it's one that has never been executed in a way that tracks how real people think, plan, and act," says CEO Sherrie Grabot. "We've always stressed a participant-focused approach, and Retirement Readiness is an example of how that focus can make a solution more effective." In addition to the development team's experience, the new offering incorporates results from a pre-launch version already in use by employees at select Fortune 500 companies.

In the past, adoption of similar solutions was also limited by the connectivity required to deliver live, personalized retirement plan information. "Realistically, only plans served by large record keepers have had access to this kind of product, and that left a lot of plans and participants out in the cold," says Dave Bernard, EVP of Strategic Relationships. GuidedChoice has overcome this barrier, giving third party administrators (TPAs) full access to Retirement Readiness. "It's an extension of what we routinely do for record keepers," Bernard explains. "Thanks to our technology leadership, we're able to give mid-market clients what larger organizations have enjoyed for years: access to our core advice and management expertise, delivered in an automated, efficient, and effective way."

"Besides addressing a significant market need, Retirement Readiness aligns perfectly with our mission as an organization," says Grabot. "We're in business to help all investors work toward financial freedom in retirement. By extending our reach to a broader population, this launch takes us one step closer to our goal."

About GuidedChoice

GuidedChoice is an independent investment advisory firm specializing in investment advice, managed account services and strategic solutions for corporate and public retirement plans, advisors and individual retirement plan participants in many of the largest defined contribution plans in the U.S. GuidedChoice advice and managed account services are also available  through several institutional partnerships. GuidedChoice advice is based on trusted industry standards of asset allocation using Modern Portfolio Theory developed by co-founder and Nobel Laureate, Dr. Harry Markowitz. GuidedChoice is headquartered in La Jolla, CA, with offices in Los Gatos, CA and Hartford, CT. For more information, visit www.guidedchoice.com.

Media contact:
Donna Lehman
770-362-9287
[email protected]

SOURCE GuidedChoice