Putnam to Manage Nevada's 529 Advisor-Sold Plan

Putnam is devoting lots of its time and resources to the retirement market, and Reynolds says that, like retirement, the 529 market–which is now $125 billion market with estimates projecting it will hit $200 billion over the next four years–presents a “big opportunity, and quite frankly, there’s a need to help people save for college.”

Regarding the lifetime income hearings held by the Departments of Labor and Treasury this week in Washington, in which retirement experts said that fiduciary liability and insurer insolvency are the biggest barriers to lifetime income adoption, Reynolds says lifetime income is “the next crucial part of retirement” that the industry must address. Putnam plans to release within the next 30 to 60 days a lifetime income product that uses alternative investments. “We think there are going to be ways to structure investments with alternatives that can create a lifetime income stream that provide you with annuity-type features without the guarantee of a company,” he says.

Putnam also plans to roll out by the end of September a new family of multi-cap funds, Reynolds says. “We came up with multi-cap growth, multi-cap core, multi-cap value….We think [the family of multi-cap funds] opens up the door for more flexibility from an investment standpoint, but also allows a better option for advisors working with their clients.”