We simplify the daunting task of investing for retirement by presenting an array of easy-to-understand choices.
A vast majority of employees in member directed plans feel unprepared to direct their own investments. We assist and enable members to make rational investment selections with choices based on the member’s age and target retirement date.
Reducing Risk:
The only acceptable risks that an investor should take are those that are likely to be adequately compensated for by portfolio returns and help accomplish a stated goal.
Human behavior leads some investors to be too risk averse while others are risk/thrill seeking. Most are unsure of their risk tolerance and find that it changes depending on market conditions – risk averse in down markets and risk seeking in climbing markets.
Our duty is to help determine an investor’s willingness and ability to take risk. Helping an investor understand both their risk tolerance and the amount of risk needed to improve the odds of achieving their retirement goal is important. Investors need to be comfortable with their portfolio’s volatility, while at the same time, take enough risk to earn the returns necessary to meet their goals.
Diversification:
Diversification is perhaps the most important principle when investing. By spreading assets across different kinds of investments, it is possible to reduce risk and potentially increase returns. We use funds that are highly diversified and also provide professionally managed allocations that deliver exposure to the following areas: Geography (Domestic vs. International), Company Size (Large Cap vs. Small Cap), Credit Risk (Treasury vs. other bonds) and Duration (Shorter vs. Longer Term bonds).
Choices Without Confusion:
Investing can be very complex, so Ullico Retirement Solutions has made many of the decisions relatively easy by offering enough funds to create a diversified portfolio, but not so many funds that participants are overwhelmed by choices.
We have created professionally managed allocations – the Ullico Target Retirement Allocations (UTRAs), which are offered at no additional cost. These managed models allow the member to select an appropriate asset allocation based on the amount of time until their expected retirement. The allocations are then automatically adjusted to reduce risk as time passes and are rebalanced quarterly. The member essentially makes one investment decision based on their expected retirement date and Ullico takes it from there.
Additionally, for the more savvy investor, there is a slate of individual mutual funds to diversify portfolios as the investor sees fit.
In It For the Long Haul:
There is no need to try to time the market!
Predicting the market consistently is virtually impossible. In fact, according to research done by Dalbar, Inc. and Morningstar, attempts at market timing historically lead to the average investor’s portfolio significantly underperforming the market.
The portfolio as a whole is more important than the individual fund. The appropriate allocation of capital among asset classes (stocks, bonds, cash, etc.) will have far more influence on long-term portfolio results than the selection of individual funds.