Press Release

Lockton and Morningstar Investment Management to Design Flexible Advisor Managed Account Services

Issued by Lockton

Mar. 3, 2021

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (March 3, 2021) – Lockton’s clients and prospects have been seeking additional employee-level advice to drive improved participant outcomes. To address these needs and better serve existing and future clients, Lockton Investment Advisors, LLC has teamed with Morningstar Investment Management, LLC to provide advisor managed account services.

“In the rapidly evolving retirement space, our clients continue to lean on Lockton as a consultative advisory leader,” says Pam Popp, President of Lockton’s Retirement Practice. “The growing demand for personalized support to help multi-career workers reach financial security spurred our innovation and relationship with Morningstar Investment Management. We’re proud to offer a customizable retirement service that is designed to help participants and meet employer goals.”

Lockton’s new service, FinanceGPS Managed Accounts, provides an alternative to target-date funds, expanding the investment focus beyond the employee's projected retirement date. The service creates personalized portfolios that integrate additional data, including the employee’s location, savings rate, gender, outside assets, and long-term goals. Additionally, employees can receive personalized savings rate advice and guidance to set an income strategy during retirement.

FinanceGPS Managed Accounts leverages the same investment expertise that employers rely upon Lockton for in their retirement plan’s design but delivers it in a scalable way to individual employees. Managed accounts enable employees to aggregate previous employer retirement plans — along with IRAs, stock purchase plans, pensions, equity compensation, and deferred compensation — in one place to better evaluate retirement readiness and optimize asset allocation.

Lockton elected to team with Morningstar Investment Management because they are a leading provider of discretionary investment management and advisory services, backed by a global investment management team that brings together core capabilities in asset allocation, investment selection, and portfolio construction. Morningstar Investment Management provides the technology platform for the service and serves as the fiduciary for portfolio assignment and recommendations on such things as savings rates and retirement age.

”Morningstar Investment Management’s expertise, technology, and focus on helping participants meet their retirement goals is impressive,” says Tom Simonson, a senior Lockton Retirement Advisor who has been instrumental in bringing this relationship to fruition. “Helping employees achieve their retirement goals is paramount to our role as advisors and teaming with Morningstar Investment Management will allow us to expand on that commitment. FinanceGPS Managed Accounts enables our clients to offer their employees an advice alternative supported by the same fiduciary rigor used for the plan itself.”

Initial clients are expected to be live on the new platform in June 2021.

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