Merrill Launches Retirement Income Solution

My Retirement Income is available within the Merrill Lynch Retirement Income Service, which also enables Merrill advisors to help clients track their spending behaviors in retirement and to provide more holistic advice on managing cash flow and adjusting retirement investment strategies to ensure that their savings last throughout their lifetime.

Merrill’s retirement income service is “a proprietary planning tool that creates a dynamic customized income plan for the client that allows them to clearly see what their sources of income are and how that compares to their target spending,” DeCamillo says. “When there is a gap [in income], the advisor can work with the client from a portfolio construction perspective to fill that gap.” That’s where the other new Merrill service, called Merrill Lynch Retirement Income Framework, comes into play “with regard to how that investment strategy is developed,” DeCamillo adds.

DeCamillo says the Merrill Lynch Retirement Income Framework is the first methodology that Merrill has created “as it relates to investment strategies for retirement income.” The Framework was created by taking best practices from top Merrill advisors “to create an approach that can be leveraged across the institution,” she says. She says the Merrill Lynch Retirement Income Framework approaches retirement income planning holistically, enabling Merrill advisors to advise clients on retirement income strategies by taking into account a client’s individual risk tolerance, retirement consumption needs, and appropriate asset allocation.