Press Release

Morningstar Investment Management and Hueler Income Solutions Offer Integrated Lifetime Income Service

Issued by Morningstar, Inc.

Feb. 18, 2022

Morningstar® Retirement ManagerSM offers personalized retirement advice across the entire retirement portfolio, including out-of-plan annuities

CHICAGO -- Morningstar Investment Management LLC, a subsidiary of Morningstar, Inc. (Nasdaq: MORN), and Hueler Income Solutions®, LLC., are linking services so that retirement savers can incorporate guaranteed income products into their personalized advice plan through Morningstar Retirement Manager. 

Managed accounts and advisor managed accounts, which deliver personalized investment advice to investors using the Morningstar Retirement Manager user platform, will now connect to Hueler Income Solutions®, a marketplace of institutionally priced, customizable guaranteed income products. When a plan sponsor or fiduciary adviser indicates they want to make annuities available as an option to their participants, Morningstar Retirement Manager will recommend how much, if any, of each investor's retirement portfolio balance to allocate to a lifetime income annuity based on their specific situation. Hueler Income Solutions then interacts with the investor to provide real-time, annuity quotes at institutional prices and offers personalized guidance to investors regarding the most appropriate annuity features to meet their personal circumstances.

"Many investors, especially those who are at risk of running out of money in retirement, could benefit from an annuity. However, the questions are numerous, from selecting an annuity, how much to annuitize, to various options investors are presented with during this process," said James Smith, head of product and strategy, Morningstar Investment Management, Workplace Solutions. "This can be a great source of fear and anxiety for many investors as they seek to meet their retirement goals." 

By enabling Morningstar Retirement Manager to communicate with Hueler Income Solutions, investors are empowered to decide whether an annuity can fit into their financial plan. Investors receive guidance from Hueler Income Solutions throughout the selection and purchasing process tailored to their specific needs. Once the annuity is purchased, Morningstar Investment Management is notified, and manages and allocates the remaining balance of the client's retirement plan account through its managed accounts or advisor managed accounts services.

"We are thrilled to work with Morningstar Investment Management to put investors back at the center of the conversation in the defined contribution industry. When correctly structured, priced, and delivered, lifetime income annuities are an effective means of creating personal pension income. This collaboration allows fiduciaries and stakeholders to participate in a flexible, customizable delivery model where incentives are properly aligned with the investor needs for efficient inclusion of guaranteed lifetime income," said Kelli Hueler president and CEO, Hueler Income Solutions, LLC.

Managed accounts is designed to help investors achieve their retirement goals by providing them with a personalized investment and saving strategy and helps them determine their needs in retirement. Through the end-to-end service with Hueler Income Solutions' capabilities, Morningstar Investment Management can now allow plan sponsors, recordkeepers, and registered investment advisers to provide access to personalized advice across the entire client retirement portfolio, including annuities.

For more information and to contact, please visit www.morningstar.com/products/retirement-manager.

About Morningstar Investment Management LLC's Workplace Solutions group   
Our parent company, Morningstar, Inc., was founded on the simple idea that when people have good investment information, they can make better choices that help them achieve their financial goals. In the Workplace Solutions group at Morningstar Investment Management LLC, a subsidiary of Morningstar, Inc. and a registered investment adviser, our advocacy for the individual investor extends to the workplace retirement market where the responsibility for investing and saving now rests with employees. Our products and services—which range from a managed accounts service to target-date products to custom models and fiduciary services—are not only designed to help people save for the retirement they want, but to help them make their money last once they get there. 

About Morningstar, Inc.
Morningstar, Inc. is a leading provider of independent investment research in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. The Company offers an extensive line of products and services for individual investors, financial advisors, asset managers and owners, retirement plan providers and sponsors, and institutional investors in the debt and private capital markets. Morningstar provides data and research insights on a wide range of investment offerings, including managed investment products, publicly listed companies, private capital markets, debt securities, and real-time global market data. Morningstar also offers investment management services through its investment advisory subsidiaries, with approximately $260 billion in assets under advisement and management as of Sept. 30, 2021. The Company has operations in 29 countries. For more information, visit www.morningstar.com/company. Follow Morningstar on Twitter @MorningstarInc.

About Hueler Income Solutions®, LLC
Hueler Income Solutions®, LLC, located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is the provider of the Hueler Income Solutions® lifetime income platform that has been delivering lifetime income annuity products to the institutional marketplace since 2004. The platform was designed to facilitate the creation of personal pensions for Transitioning Investors. The Income Solutions® platform is made available directly to plan sponsor clients and numerous other retirement plans through Hueler's unique non-exclusive partnerships with leading financial services firms, fiduciary advisor platforms and non-profit member organizations.

The Hueler organization has served the institutional marketplace for over 30 years with a breadth of expertise, including annuities, stable value research and designing complementary technology capabilities.  After building an exceptional reputation for stable value analytics and reporting over several decades, the acquisition of Hueler Analytics' Stable Value Comparative Universe Data and Stable Value Index occurred in early 2020.

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