LeafHouse and iJoin Announce Launch of Automated Personalized Portfolio™ Program Powered by Dimensional offering State Street GTC Retirement Income Builder Series Funds

The new managed account brings personalization and lifetime income to the masses

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. , April 4, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- LeafHouse, iJoin, and ARS are excited to announce a new partnership to deliver personalized advice that features the State Street GTC Retirement Income Builder Series (Series) target date funds within a managed account offering.

The State Street GTC Retirement Income Builder Series combines State Street Global Advisors' cost-efficient asset management expertise with ARS's patent-pending lifetime income innovation to help Americans become more retirement-ready. Global Trust Company (GTC) is the fiduciary and trustee of the Series.

The Automated Personalized Portfolio™ (APP) program combines the strength of a consortium of industry partners to help enhance participant outcomes through personalized savings, steady growth, and lifetime income.

Many Americans want a diversified retirement plan designed to their specific needs and they often look to their employer-sponsored plan to help. In fact, 78% of workers would be interested in more personalized 401(k) investment options tailored to their unique financial situation.¹ Additionally, 85% believe in-plan lifetime income should be an option in their retirement plan.¹ As a record-breaking number of Americans approach retirement each year the need for a solution that can meet both needs is stronger than ever.

"When 85% of your customer base is demanding something, you better consider providing it," says Todd Kading, CEO of LeafHouse. "That is the percent of participants asked by Voice of the American Worker survey that said they would like access to an in-plan income solution."

This solution is designed to meet both of these participant needs. The LeafHouse FlexFiduciary™ and reallocateIT™ portfolio management technologies, in conjunction with iJoin's participant experience, creates an automated personalized portfolio. The solution's core investment, the State Street GTC Retirement Income Builder Series, delivers growth potential, retirement risk mitigation, and a personalized lifetime income strategy by embedding ARS' patent-pending Lifetime Income Builder into the core portfolio's glidepath. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP will provide evidence-based investment solutions to APP clients to complement the core investment.

"This consortium of industry-leading product innovators was established to help drive better participant outcomes through participant-centric innovation," said Dave Paulsen of ARS. "We are committed to offering participants personalized saving vehicles that also seek to deliver lifetime income, aiming to provide the tools they are asking for to help achieve their financial goals in retirement."

APP is a technology-driven solution that provides a personalized savings and income experience for participants. LeafHouse will be the fund fulfillment and allocation technology provider as well as the participant-level fiduciary (the 3(38)). The State Street GTC Retirement Income Builder Series will be used as the core investment, providing a lifetime income strategy coupled with State Street's low-cost investment experience. The starting cost of the APP is 7 basis points (not including investment expense).

About ARS
ARS designs, develops, and facilitates distribution of institutional lifetime income products that help Americans solve their biggest challenge in retirement—outliving their money. Founded in 2020, the company's over-arching philosophy centers on delivering better participant outcomes through innovation. It is led by industry veterans with a combined 175 years of experience in retirement plans, annuities, and asset management. ARS is headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona. Learn more about ARS at www.arsfinancial.com

About Dimensional Fund Advisors
Dimensional is a leading global investment firm that has been translating academic research into practical investment solutions since 1981. Guided by a strong belief in markets, we help investors pursue higher expected returns through a systematic investment process that integrates research insights with advanced portfolio design, management, and trading while balancing tradeoffs that can impact returns. Dimensional is headquartered in Austin, Texas, and has 14 global offices across North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. As of December 31, 2023, Dimensional manages $677 billion for investors worldwide. For more information, please visit dimensional.com.

About LeafHouse
Located in Austin, Texas, LeafHouse is an experienced, national discretionary investment manager and consultant for all types of retirement plans. LeafHouse specializes in creating investment solutions for retirement plans including investment fiduciary services, manufacturing investment vehicles, automated personalized portfolio programs, IRA solutions, and enterprise technology solutions.

The organizational strength and technological platform meet the needs of clients and partners. LeafHouse collaborates with advisors, recordkeepers, investment managers, and administrators to develop creative solutions and build partnerships. LeafHouse aims to modernize technologies, increase communication, and improve data insights. The firm's technological rigor, investment acumen, and operational discipline enables industry leaders to drive change for tomorrow. LeafHouse transforms systems and builds new paradigms to make people's financial lives better.

LeafHouse is a registered investment advisor. Registration does not imply a certain level of skills or training. More information about the firm, including its investment strategies and objectives, can be found in our ADV Part 2, which is available, without charge, upon request. Our Form ADV contains information regarding LeafHouse's business practices and the backgrounds of our key personnel. 

About LDI-MAP, LLC (dba iJoin)
iJoin is a leading retirement plan infrastructure technology partner supporting cost-efficient personalized managed account programs, built-in plan health analytics and reporting tools, financial education and wellness, access to guaranteed income products, and IRA rollovers. We're built to help financial advisors differentiate and win. LDI-MAP (d.b.a. iJoin) is a registered investment advisor with the State of Arizona – 16430 N. Scottsdale Road Suite 200, Scottsdale, AZ 85254. Learn more at ijoinsuccess.com.

About State Street Global Advisors
For four decades, State Street Global Advisors has served the world's governments, institutions and financial advisors. With a rigorous, risk-aware approach built on research, analysis and market-tested experience, we build from a breadth of active and index strategies to create cost-effective solutions. And, as pioneers in index and ETF investing we are always inventing new ways to invest. As a result, we have become the world's fourth-largest asset manager² with US $4.14 trillion³ under our care.

¹ Source: Franklin Templeton's Voice of the American Worker Survey, 2023.
² Pensions & Investments Research Center, as of 12/31/22.
³ This figure is presented as of December 31, 2023 and includes approximately $64.44 billion USD of assets with respect to SPDR products for which State Street Global Advisors Funds Distributors, LLC (SSGA FD) acts solely as the marketing agent. SSGA FD and State Street Global Advisors are affiliated.

Investing involves risk including the risk of loss of principal. Such activities may not be suitable for everyone.

Each target date fund in the series is established by Global Trust Company and held in the GTC Retirement Income Builder Collective Investment Trust (the "Trust"). The Trust is a bank-sponsored collective investment trust and not a mutual fund. Global Trust Company serves as trustee of the Trust, manages the Trust, and has ultimate investment authority for each fund in the Series. State Street Global Advisors manages a portion of the solution's underlying assets and provides Global Trust Company with glidepath recommendations for the funds within the Series. 

Lifetime Income Builder is a group fixed indexed annuity with a guaranteed lifetime withdrawal benefit (a "FIA"). Each TDF may invest in more than one FIA, collectively which are referred to throughout this presentation as "Lifetime Income Builder." Advantage Retirement Solutions, LLC is the inventor of Lifetime Income Builder. The FIA guarantees are made to the TDF, not to the participants. Participants are not beneficiaries of any annuity contract. Lifetime Income Builder is not provided by or guaranteed by Global Trust Company, State Street Global Advisors, Advantage Retirement Solutions, LLC or any of their affiliates.

Each fund is designed to provide participants target annual income of 6% at income activation and a target minimum lifetime income percentage of 4.5%. The target percentages are goals and there is no assurance that the funds will be able to make payments that meet either target percentage. All income payments to participants, regardless of the percentage, are always dependent on the trustee.

The funds invest in FIAs that are intended to back the Trust's investment objectives, lifetime income. Each FIA is issued by an insurance company to the trustee. The FIAs provide guaranteed payments to the Trust and are subject to the claims-paying ability of the issuing insurance companies. If the value of the other investments in the fund reaches zero at or after income activation, income payments are adjusted to the cumulative guaranteed percentage provided to the Trust by the FIAs, which is targeted to be the target minimum lifetime income percentage of 4.5%. The actual annual income percentage and actual minimum lifetime income percentage are dependent on economic factors and may be more or less than what is targeted. There are possible, but extreme, market conditions where the FIAs' cumulative guaranteed percentage that is provided to the Trust could be less than 4.5%. Therefore, we use the term "target minimum lifetime income percentage" to properly reflect the potential for such scenario. In that scenario, the FIAs would still provide guaranteed payments to the Trust, but it would be something less than the targeted minimum of 4.5%, and payment of income to the participants would remain dependent on the trustee.

If a participant selects the joint income option offered by the fund, the actual payment percentages will be less than 6% and 4.5%, but instead of income payments terminating upon the death of the participant, income payments will continue to be made to the joint beneficiary if the joint beneficiary outlives the participant.

Current target annual income and target minimum lifetime income percentages reflect economic conditions at the time each fund is created. Future funds in the series could have lower or higher targeted percentages based on economic conditions at the time of the fund's creation. Please refer to the Offering Memorandum for more information on the risks of not receiving income payments.

The funds are designed for investors expected to retire around the year indicated in each fund's name. When choosing whether to invest in the fund for which an investor age qualifies, investors should consider whether they anticipate retiring significantly earlier or later than age 65 even if such investors retire on or near a fund's target date. There may be other considerations relevant to determining whether investment in the fund best meets their individual circumstances and investment goals. The funds' asset allocation strategy becomes increasingly conservative as it approaches the target date and beyond. The investment risks of each fund change over time as its asset allocation changes.

An investment in a fund is not a bank deposit and is not insured or guaranteed by the insurance companies, the trustee, State Street Global Advisors, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ("FDIC"), or any other government agency. The Trust is not insured by the FDIC and is not registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Each FIA is issued by an insurance company to the trustee. The FIAs do not create any third-party beneficiary relationships or third-party beneficiary rights for any other person or entity. The insurers do not guarantee that participants will receive lifetime income.

The information provided herein does not constitute investment advice and it should not be relied on as such. It should not be considered a solicitation to buy or an offer to sell a security or a product, or a recommendation of the suitability of any investment strategy for a particular investor. It does not take into account any investor's particular objectives, strategies, tax status or investment horizon.

State Street Global Advisors is not a service provider to the APP and makes no representations or warranties as to the current accuracy, reliability or completeness of the information contained herein and assumes no liability for decisions based upon such information. Third party data providers make no warranties or representations of any kind relating to the accuracy, completeness or timeliness of the data and have no liability for damages of any kind relating to use of such data.

None of the entities named herein are affiliated with one another.

SOURCE AdvantageRetirementSolutions