Fund companies modify value-added programs

Mutual fund companies are arming their wholesalers with new tools to help financial advisers manage client anxiety about the roller-coaster markets and unsettling financial news. The updated programs include new literature, webcasts with portfolio managers, white papers, strategies employing psychology to ward off investor depression, and a variety of research. Client retention has become paramount among advisers, said Daniel O'Lear, executive vice president of Franklin Templeton Investments of San Mateo, Calif. "Investors are nervous about what to do," he said. "For advisers, right now is a time when there is a lot of hand-holding." Franklin Templeton has created a brochure, "Five Things You Need to Know to Ride Out the Volatile Stock Market," for advisers to give to clients, and runs webcasts with investment officers for advisers. This month, it will offer a paper giving a 30-year retrospective on market downturns as well as a seminar on the effect of volatility on clients. Historical perspective is key, said Cary Carbonaro, president of Family Financial Research, a Huntington Village, N.Y., advisory firm that manages $30 million in assets, noting that she sends fund company research out to clients as quickly as it comes in. "People closer to retirement are freaking out," she said. "Even younger people are freaking out because they are seeing their account go negative for the first time."
Russell Investments of Tacoma, Wash., launched a campaign in January that focuses on working with clients during periods of market volatility. The program includes a new online collection of webcasts, conference calls and research papers that it calls a "market field guide," said Don Gartlan, director of Russell's consulting services group. Talking about the economy has been on the radar screen at Phoenix Investment Partners Ltd. since last fall, said Stephen Gresham, head of product marketing at the Hartford, Conn.-based firm, who wrote an article called "Beating Recession Depression," which offers investment strategies to consider during a time of potential recession. Reflecting the change of climate, the firm is now calling its wealth management pieces risk management pieces in its Successful Client Meeting kits. "We are tweaking the pieces to look more at the risk side and the liability side," Mr. Gresham said. Information about the market is on the front burner at Baltimore-based Legg Mason Inc. as it completes an updated version of The Advisor Partnership Program for release this month and gears up for its first-ever adviser website launch later in the spring. The program will have new elements, including how advisers can build relationships with family members and compete with family offices. Legg also is creating new content on market/investment intelligence, which will be available in the next few months, said Kathleen Pritchard, marketing manager in charge of the adviser program. The content will address market volatility and will include a white paper on the prospects for recession. How to excel as an adviser is the overriding theme of programs now in demand at Janus Capital Group Inc. of Denver.Several hundred advisers have gone through its Ironman Adviser program, a recent addition of half-day and shorter seminars conducted with the Human Performance Institute in Orlando, Fla., that highlight the physical and mental strategies needed to excel, said Dana Klein, executive director of Janus Labs. One of the most popular programs offered by The Vanguard Group Inc. of Malvern, Pa., involves surveying clients. Another offers customized client presentations online, said Melissa Nigro, marketing executive for financial adviser services. "Today, it's survival of the fittest," said John Nersesian, managing director of wealth management services for Nuveen Investments Inc. of Chicago. Portfolio construction and managing expectations are current hot topics, he said. "Advisers want to know how to effectively manage volatility in portfolios and produce more-consistent returns," Mr. Nersesian said. E-mail Sue Asci at sasci@investmentnews.com.