AMP Financial Planning’s Darren Black at the start line of the Future2 Wheel Classic.

After months of training and weeks of fundraising, financial planners finally got on the road early Saturday with the Future2 Wheel Classic, the epic annual cycle ride organised by Future2, the Foundation of the Financial Planning Association.

Setting out from Old Treasury Building in Melbourne, most of the cyclists were looking forward to nine days and anything between 45 and 65 hours in the saddle, depending on their level of fitness.  They will climb over 10,500 m – the equivalent of 1.2 Mount Everests.   If the 2012 Wheel Classic sets expectations, they will encounter 40+ kph headwinds, snow, hail and lightening.  They could expect over 70 flat tyres to fix and burn around 3,500 calories a day, double the average daily intake!    All in the name of helping disadvantaged young Australians towards a brighter future.

The annual fundraising event is sponsored AMP Financial Planning (Gold Partner) for a third year. Matrix Planning Solutions is Silver Partner for the fourth year running.

AMP’s head of advice in Melbourne, Darren Black joined Victorian State Member of Parliament David Southwick MP to farewell the riders, a number of whom are AMP employees and planners.

Thirty cyclists will participate in some stage of the Melbourne to Sydney route.  All are actively seeking the support of friends, family, colleagues to help Future2 towards an ambitious $170,000 fundraising target.  Donations can be made in support of individual riders at www.future2fundraising.org.au/event/f2wheelclassic2013

When fundraising closes on 31 October, the individual and the team with the highest fundraising total will be awarded a trophy.

The post On the road to raising $$$ for disadvantaged young Australians appeared first on AdviserVoice.

Retirees in the drivers seat with investment choice.

Alliance approach provides financial planning practitioners support in building innovative retirement income solutions for specific individual investor objectives

Financial advisers are no longer content with the traditional benchmarking approach to investment returns and are instead seeking solutions that cater to the specific needs of investors – particularly retirees, according to Russell Investments and echoed by Matrix Planning Solutions.

The trend is reflective of nascent shift in investment objectives: investors want portfolios that are designed to achieve outcomes that are more closely aligned their goals, rather than simply trying to beat a common industry benchmark.

In a move designed to address this demand, Russell Investments has partnered with Matrix Planning Solutions, a leading independently owned financial planning network, to develop and launch the PartnerShip Funds – five actively managed portfolios designed to deliver different outcomes depending on the investor’s life stage and needs.

Since officially launching in December 2012, all five PartnerShip Funds are ahead of their annual objectives on a pro-rata basis. The PartnerShip Growth Fund has achieved the strongest performance, posting a return of 10.8% for the year to August 2013. This is well in excess of its official target objective – the Reserve Bank of Australia Cash Rate + 4.5%.

Russell Investment’s Managing Director Private Client Services, Siva Sivakumaran, attributes the funds’ success to the collaborative approach of the partnership which is reflected in the effective operation of the joint Investment Committee.

“The Investment Committee has been established to ensure open discussion between the two parties. It’s made up of representatives from both Russell and Matrix Planning Solutions who meet regularly to discuss market developments and quantitative research which is then made available to advisers,” Mr Sivakumaran said.

Matrix Planning Solutions’ Managing Director, Rick di Cristoforo, said the partnership has provided a platform for advisers to access quality investment information which is used to devise strategies that accommodate the life-stages and investment needs of individual retail investors.

“It reflects the commitment from both Russell and Matrix Planning Solutions to provide advisers with the most effective tools to maximise the likelihood their clients realise their investment goals,” he says.

In aligning with Russell Investments, Matrix Planning Solutions consulted heavily with its adviser network who indicated more tailored client solutions were needed in achieving business growth amid a sustained period of reform.

Other key performance figures for monthly returns for the year to 31 August include:

• PartnerShip Balanced Fund posted a net return of 7.69%, which is 3.72% in excess of its Reserve Bank of Australia Cash Rate plus 3% target (pro-rated)
• PartnerShip Debt Management Fund posted a net return of 7.67%, 4.26% above its target of 80% of the Australian Banks Average Variable Mortgage Rate (pro-rated).

Through the partnership arrangement, retail investors are able to benefit from Russell’s unique capabilities in its five core areas – capital markets insights, manager research, portfolio construction, indexes and portfolio implementation.

Mr Sivakumaran said as the investment landscape grows increasingly complex, there is a shift towards outcome-oriented investing which addresses the need for products focused on objectives understandable by the investor.

“Along with the global multi-asset surge, it becomes evident that Russell has a lot to offer through our experience in crafting adaptive portfolios that delivers the right outcomes for investors,” he said.

The post Retirees drive demand for outcome-oriented approach to investing appeared first on AdviserVoice.

In development for the past two years, the approach is part of a major shift towards ‘outcome-oriented’, multi-asset investing that is sweeping investor markets worldwide.

Under the new alliance approach, Russell will partner with large investors and selected financial advice groups to develop highly customised portfolios designed to meet specific outcomes for individual investors.

A key focus for the local alliance program is expected to be the development of innovative retirement income solutions – to help older Australians convert their savings into a reliable stream of income and protect their income against the uncertainties of retirement.

All Russell’s global investor intelligence will be incorporated into the portfolios which will offer investors true diversification, be highly adaptive to changes in markets, and offer a ‘best of breed’ approach.

Demand for the new approach has come from both retail and institutional investment players with Russell formalising a series of new alliances across the region.

Specialist toolkit of investment capabilities required
Russell’s heritage in crafting multi-asset solutions over the last 30 years, and its unique breadth of capabilities spanning the five critical areas of capital markets insights, manager research, portfolio construction, indexes and portfolio implementation has given the firm the edge in the global multi-asset surge.

Russell Global Chief Investment Officer Peter Gunning said he was excited to be back in Australia talking to clients and prospects about the alliance approach.

“There is a paradigm shift underway in the way global and Australian investors are thinking,” Mr Gunning said.

He said the losses experienced through the global financial crisis, as well as ongoing market volatility, had fundamentally changed the way the industry thought about investing. Evidence of this was the industry’s movement away from assessing funds based on whether they beat a peer group of managers, or market indices, towards developing outcome oriented portfolios that use an individual’s personal financial situation and income needs as a starting point.

“Today large investors want a series of intelligently constructed, efficiently managed portfolios that will deliver the right outcomes for their members or investors, whatever the performance of markets, and whatever the person’s particular set of needs are,” he said.

“The sheer complexity and sophistication of today’s adaptive, outcome-oriented portfolios offers a new challenge for investors of all sizes. The approach requires a specialist toolkit of investment capabilities including customised asset exposures, adaptive asset allocation, holistic portfolio construction and tax-aware portfolio management. Russell is one of the few firms with the unique breadth of capabilities necessary to meet client expectations in this area,” Mr Gunning said.

Together, Russell and Matrix Planning Solutions, develop PartnerShip Funds
Russell today announced an alliance with Australian retail financial planning group Matrix Planning Solutions. Together the firms have developed and launched the PartnerShip Funds – five actively managed portfolios designed to deliver different outcomes depending on the investor’s life stage and income needs:

• The PartnerShip Conservative Fund, Balanced Fund & Growth Fund: for investors saving for their future needs and looking for actively managed solutions within a risk managed framework
• The PartnerShip Debt Management Fund: for people needing income to help pay down their mortgage
• The PartnerShip Income Seeker Fund: for people nearing or in retirement who need income but can’t risk their savings.

Matrix Managing Director Rick Di Cristoforo said the firm’s decision to partner with Russell was driven by a desire to focus on investors’ individual needs and Matrix’s continued push for improvement in offerings for their advisers and clients.

“We felt there was a better way to deliver real solutions to our clients. The global move towards outcome-oriented investing makes sense to our business and we have worked with Russell to build from the ground up a unique suite of solutions that we are confident will deliver for our clients, whatever the market environment. The arrangement with Russell also puts Matrix advisers in a unique position to have clarity into the workings and decision making of the funds within a formal joint investment committee structure.”

“Russell’s global presence, their leadership and diligence around investment research, and their track record on implementation were key factors behind our decision to move forward with the alliance.”

The post Russell unveils new alliance approach appeared first on AdviserVoice.