RidgeWorth Launches New Fee Benchmarking Tool on PlanAdvisorTools.com

ATLANTA, May 25 /PRNewswire/ -- RidgeWorth Investments announced today that it has launched a new interactive fee benchmarking tool on www.planadvisortools.com, its site geared towards advisors who work with retirement plan sponsors. The new tool joins RidgeWorth's well-received retirement plan benchmarking tool launched in February 2010 and will be another way for advisors to differentiate their services for retirement plan sponsor clients and prospects.

"Advisors to retirement plans want to make sure the retirement plans that plan sponsors provide for their employees are the best they can be," said Elizabeth Wilson, RidgeWorth's National Sales Manager, "Fee benchmarking can help make sure that plans are competitive on fees and give the plan sponsors the leverage they need to negotiate the best deals with their service providers."

Under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), sponsors are bound by a fiduciary obligation to ensure that the fees they pay service providers and asset managers are reasonable.  "Part of assessing that reasonableness is understanding how the fees that a plan pays compare to plans of the same size and in the same industry," suggested Wilson.

The new tool, which utilizes proprietary data from Fiduciary Benchmarks, Inc., lets the advisor:

• Benchmark the clients' or prospects' total plan cost to the costs of other plans in their peer group
• Compare various plan fees as well as participant success measures, so that fees are not measured in a vacuum without any context
• Upload the advisor's own logo so that the advisor is seen as the expert

Throughout 2010, RidgeWorth will be adding to its suite of materials and tools for retirement plan advisors. Advisors can visit www.planadvisortools.com for more retirement plan materials, such as: thought leadership, interactive tools and prospecting support.

About RidgeWorth Investments

RidgeWorth Investments serves as a holding company that owns interests in eight investment boutiques with approximately $65 billion of assets under management as of March 31, 2010. RidgeWorth's investment boutiques manage a wide variety of investment disciplines across the fixed income, equity, and liquidity management asset classes. Our boutiques provide investment management services to a growing client base that includes endowments, foundations, corporations, healthcare organizations, municipalities, public funds, associations, insurance companies, labor unions and high net worth individuals. In addition, RidgeWorth serves as the investment adviser to the RidgeWorth Funds mutual fund family. RidgeWorth Investments is a trade name for RidgeWorth Capital Management, Inc., an investment adviser registered with the SEC headquartered in Atlanta. For more information about RidgeWorth, visit www.ridgeworth.com.

Information provided is general and educational in nature. It is not intended to be, and should not be construed as, investment, legal, estate planning, or tax advice. RidgeWorth does not provide legal, estate planning, or tax advice. Laws of a specific state or laws relevant to a particular situation or pensions in general may affect the applicability, accuracy, or completeness of this information. Federal and state laws and regulations are complex and are subject to change. Consult with an attorney or a tax or financial advisor regarding your specific legal, tax, estate planning, or financial situation.

This tool has been developed using data provided by Fiduciary Benchmarks, Inc. (FBi). FBi is a leading authority of fees, participant success measures, support and services for defined contribution plans. FBi maintains a database of current information for a large cross-section of retirement plans, using proprietary expert software to build comparisons. The FBi data provides comprehensive comparisons of a plan's fees, however it's important to consider plan services when assessing fee reasonableness.

While FBi data has been chosen for this tool because of quality of content and relevance, RidgeWorth Investments does not warrant its accuracy or completeness.

An investor should consider the fund's investment objectives, risks, and charges and expenses carefully before investing or sending money. This and other important information about the RidgeWorth Funds can be found in the fund's prospectus. To obtain a prospectus, please call 1-888-784-3863 or visit www.ridgeworth.com. Please read the prospectus carefully before investing.

©2010 RidgeWorth Investments. RidgeWorth Investments, an investment advisor registered with the SEC, is the trade name for RidgeWorth Capital Management, Inc., the adviser to the RidgeWorth Funds. RidgeWorth Funds are distributed by RidgeWorth Distributors LLC, which is not affiliated with the adviser.

SOURCE RidgeWorth Investments