Legg Mason has launched a new series of nine target retirement collective investment funds, the 401(k) Roadmap Funds (Roadmap Funds), which are sponsored and maintained by Hand Benefits & Trust Company (HB&T), a Benefits Plans Administrative Services Company (BPAS).
The Roadmap Funds are designed to give employee benefit plans access to asset allocation strategies. QS Investors, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Legg Mason, Inc. and a leading customized solutions and global quantitative equities manager, has been retained by HB&T to provide sub-advisory and asset allocation services to the Roadmap Funds.
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In addition, Sheridan Road Investment Consulting supports QS Investors by providing investment research and fund analytics.
The Roadmap Funds were designed to be successor funds to QS Legg Mason Target Date Retirement Funds, a series of target date mutual funds that closed on November 14 and, as such, will utilize substantially similar investment strategies and processes as those utilized by the Legg Mason Target Date Retirement Funds, including similar asset allocation glide path and dynamic risk management.
The Roadmap Funds are funds-of-funds and will invest in a combination of underlying funds representing a variety of broad asset classes such as equity, fixed income and inflation-hedging strategies.
The Roadmap Funds’ glide path is designed to adjust over time to become more conservative by increasing allocations to fixed income securities as investors near retirement and to effectively balance market risk against longevity risk.
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By GlobalDataHB&T is the trustee and is responsible for the establishment, maintenance and operation of the Roadmap Funds. It is also responsible for the retention and oversight of the sub-adviser and other service providers for the Roadmap Funds.
"Clients are looking for solutions that meet their needs in a low growth marketplace. Hand Benefits & Trust, QS Investors and Sheridan Road Investment Consulting worked together to create a low cost solution that combines a distinctive glide path with a dynamic risk management feature that is fairly unique in today’s target date industry," stated Gary Kleinschmidt, Head of DCIO sales for Legg Mason.
"The Roadmap Funds are really about providing investors with a streamlined retirement planning option that includes balancing market risk against longevity risk while attempting to reduce portfolio volatility in the five years before and after retirement when investors are most vulnerable to a drop in portfolio value," concluded Kleinschmidt.
