Press Release

Wilshire Selected as Investment Fiduciary for Retirement Leaders’ Consortium

Issued by Wilshire Associates

Apr. 13, 2021

SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- Wilshire, a leading global financial services firm, today announced that it has been selected as an investment advisor fiduciary for a new in-plan target date series with guaranteed income for life called “Income America 5ForLifeTM.” In this role, Wilshire is responsible for recommending and monitoring the various components of the solution including the underlying funds, insurance providers and glide path manager.

The SECURE Act has provided additional safe harbors that now make it easier for plans to consider lifetime income options. Wilshire’s role as a fiduciary within the Income America solution will help ensure plans meet safe harbor requirements, and can better prepare participants for the transition to decumulation. Each of the underlying funds was evaluated by Wilshire’s institutional manager research team and will be monitored going forward, including rigorous quarterly screenings to ensure that each continues to meet Wilshire’s criteria. Wilshire will also secure written representations from the insurance providers on financial strength and fees to further support the requirements.

“Securing retirement income is one of the biggest challenges faced by participants, and Wilshire is honored to work alongside the best-of-breed retirement industry partners to help solve this challenge by paving the way for plans to adopt in-plan lifetime income guarantees,” noted Jason Schwarz, President and Chief Operating Officer of Wilshire.

"The fundamental ideas behind a collaboration by so many great companies was focused on the fact that no single company could truly solve the in-plan guaranteed income void in the industry,” said Matthew Wolniewicz, President, Income America. “The void remained as prior and recently released solutions continue with the age-old industry mistakes of being proprietary, bringing undesirable solutions to plan sponsors and consultants. Therefore, Income America chose to select Wilshire to ensure the purity of this fiduciary solution. Consultants view Wilshire as the gold standard in this role, and participants will end up being the beneficiary of their services,” Mr. Wolniewicz added.

The “Income America” consortium of retirement leaders includes American Century Investments, Lincoln Financial Group, Nationwide, Prime Capital Investment Advisors, SS&C Technologies and Wilmington Trust, N.A. The plan solution is designed to meet guaranteed income solutions in Qualified Default Investment Alternative (QDIA) options and fill a marketplace need that helps participants meet their retirement income goals.

*Guarantees are subject to the claims paying ability of the issuing insurance companies.

About Wilshire

Wilshire Advisors, LLC (Wilshire®) is a leading global financial services firm, dedicated to improving outcomes for investors worldwide. An independent firm since its founding in 1972, Wilshire advises on over $1.2 trillion in assets and manages $83 billion in assets. Specializing in innovative investment solutions, consulting services and multi-asset analytics, Wilshire serves more than 500 institutional and intermediary clients worldwide from 10 offices around the globe.

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