Press Release

Franklin Templeton and iJoin Collaborate to Expand Access to Goals-Based Personalization

Issued by iJoin

Oct. 24, 2021

Advisors will be able to leverage Franklin Templeton’s GOE technology and investment allocation expertise via iJoin’s managed account technology.

 San Mateo, CA & Scottsdale, AZ, October 25, 2021 – Franklin Templeton today announced that it has engaged LDI-MAP (d.b.a. iJoin), a leader in retirement plan technologies, to make Franklin Templeton’s Goals Optimization Engine (GOE) available via iJoin’s personalized managed account experience. The combination presents a well-differentiated offering for plan advisors and their clients. If implemented as a plan’s Qualified Default Investment Alternative (QDIA) or managed account solution, an investment advisory affiliate of Franklin Templeton¹ can act as a 3(38) investment manager under ERISA.

“The shared commitment by each firm to democratizing personalized advice within defined contribution plans using data and technology is the foundation of the partnership,” said Kevin Murphy, Head of Workplace Retirement Distribution for Franklin Templeton. “By combining the user experience and engagement expertise of iJoin with the asset allocation knowledge of Franklin Templeton Investment Solutions embedded within GOE, the firms can deliver personalized investment advice at scale.”

Steve McCoy, CEO of iJoin, added, “Franklin Templeton’s goals-based approach to automated advice ideally pairs with iJoin’s data-driven, personalized, goals-based participant experience. We’re pleased to partner with a market leader that is focused on personalization and making it available to all retirement plans and participants.”

Backed by award winning research², Franklin Templeton’s GOE combines portfolio construction expertise with dynamic programming to deliver individualized portfolio pathways based upon an individual’s unique goals. GOE uses probability of success as the driver for the initial asset allocation and each reallocation in order to maximize likelihood of achieving the goal. Portfolio paths further adapt to client changes and market events.

Through iJoin’s connection with recordkeeping platforms, the new offering will allow financial advisors to provide a personalized goals-based investing solution to participants within many smaller plans that do not currently have access to such a solution.

About Franklin Templeton

Franklin Resources, Inc. [NYSE:BEN] is a global investment management organization with subsidiaries operating as Franklin Templeton and serving clients in over 165 countries. Franklin Templeton’s mission is to help clients achieve better outcomes through investment management expertise, wealth management and technology solutions. Through its specialist investment managers, the Company brings extensive capabilities in equity, fixed income, multi-asset solutions and alternatives. With offices in more than 30 countries and approximately 1,300 investment professionals, the California-based company has over 70 years of investment experience and over $1.5 trillion in assets under management as of September 30, 2021. For more information, please visit franklintempleton.com and follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.

About LDI-MAP, LLC (dba iJoin)

The iJoin team is committed to personalizing retirement success™ and making it easy for millions of savers to get on a path to better retirement outcomes. As a financial technology partner to the retirement plan industry, iJoin’s goal-based retirement plan experience helps people immediately understand their retirement funding need and encourages action to get on track. iJoin supports financial advisors and recordkeepers with actionable data and tools to more effectively engage both employers and their employees. LDI-MAP (d.b.a. iJoin) is a registered investment advisor with the State of Arizona – 14646 N. Kierland Boulevard, Suite 125, Scottsdale, AZ 85254. Learn more at ijoinsuccess.com.

¹ Franklin Advisers, Inc. (“FAV”) provides certain investment advisory services through GOE to and for the benefit of plan participants. FAV is a subsidiary of Franklin Resources, Inc., a global investment management organization with subsidiaries operating as Franklin Templeton.

² A New Approach to Goals-Based Wealth Management, by Sanjiv R. Das, Daniel Ostrov, Anand Radhakrishnan and Deep Srivastav received the 2018 Harry M. Markowitz Award from the Journal of Investment Management and New Frontier Advisors, LLC. This is an annual award honoring Dr. Harry M. Markowitz, a Nobel laureate in economics, for his legacy and to support future research and innovation in practical asset management. Candidates are taken from among papers published in the Journal of Investment Management each year.

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