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April 25, 2013 at 01:27 PM
The firms that most successfully address rollovers provide a mix of resources directed at advisors and their clients, according to the latest Mutual Fund Monitor from Corporate Insight. The research firm anticipates questions about rollovers will become more frequent as the job market improves and more clients begin dealing with new jobs and wondering what to do with old 401(k)s.
While many firms had strong marketing pieces that address rollovers, only a few had a “well-rounded” approach that incorporated client-ready and advisor-ready materials. The most notable firms were American Funds, Lord Abbett and Oppenheimer, Corporate Insight found.
The most common type of rollover materials were client brochures, which were offered by 71% of firms. Of the 43% of firms that offered client presentations in PDF or Power Point format, two-thirds included advisor scripts.
The report noted that just having resources isn’t enough; they should be easy to find. While 82% of the firms surveyed offer some sort of rollover materials, 36% point to them from the main page of the website. Just half promote them on their retirement resources page. Less than a quarter actively promote their rollover resources.
“We were surprised by the lack of promotion,” Jeff Latzer (left), head of mutual fund-advisor research for Corporate Insight, told AdvisorOne on Thursday. “Generally firms are strong in retirement promotion, but even when they’re talking about job changes, they’re not positioned heavily” to talk about rollovers.
Effective resources should answer clients’ most common questions clearly and prominently, Corporate Insight found. Charts that compare the benefits and drawbacks of various strategies should also be included.
