Ascensus’ ETF 401(k) Offerings Continue to Gain Popularity Among Financial Professionals

Nov. 15, 2012 - PRLog -- Ascensus, a leading retirement plan solutions provider, continues to see exchange-traded funds (ETFs) generate healthy interest on its fee-based product platform. An ETF is a collection of securities that is generally set up to track an index or a sector, but trades like a single stock. Ascensus added ETFs to its lineup in 2009 to provide financial advisors and third-party investment advisory firms with more investment options and increased flexibility to design a truly customized retirement plan for their clients. As a result, it became one of the first retirement plan recordkeepers to create the potential for an all-ETF retirement program.    

Ascensus has noted increased use of ETFs as financial professionals continue to gravitate toward lower-cost investments. Since introducing ETFs to its fee-based platform, it has seen ETF assets grow by at least 50% each year. Currently, 35% of plans on this platform offer at least one ETF, and 14% of those plans invest 100% of their assets in ETFs. ETFs are especially popular among registered investment advisors, who use them within model portfolios to provide low-cost, diversified investment allocations to their participants.  

“We have seen a steady increase in the utilization of ETFs as investment choices within plans that fee-based advisors bring to our platform, and we expect that trend to continue,” said Mike Narkoff, Senior Vice President, Retail Sales. “By being one of the first providers to offer the ability to trade ETFs within retirement plans, we demonstrated our unwavering commitment to providing financial professionals with the tools to help their clients reach their retirement goals.”

About Ascensus
With more than 30 years of industry experience, Ascensus is a leading provider of high-quality retirement plan solutions for organizations of all sizes. Through its 1,000+ highly trained associates and one of the largest ERISA consulting practices in the U.S., Ascensus provides recordkeeping and administrative services to over 27,000 defined contribution plans and administers over 1.5 million IRAs. Ascensus partners with financial institutions to offer tailored solutions to meet the needs of financial professionals, employers, and individuals. For more information, visit http://www.ascensus.com.