Financial Engines Inc., Palo Alto, Calif., is not just providing advice to 401(k) plans anymore; it has opened its investment advisory service to all tax-deferred plans, including 403(b), 457, IRA, Roth IRA, SEP-IRA and Keogh accounts.
It is not the first advice-giver to do so -- mPower offers investment advice to individuals with 403(b), 457, individual retirement accounts and 401(k) plans. Like Financial Engines, it can automatically download record keeping information only from companies with which it has relationships.
But the firm is including a number of fund families and fund supermarkets so plan participants no longer have to type in the data necessary to have Financial Engines include those funds in the investment advice, said Christopher Jones, vice president of financial research and strategy.
Moreover, Financial Engines now can look at all of a person's tax-deferred accounts jointly and give advice based on all of them, Mr. Jones added.
Financial Engines also is enhancing its website to add mutual fund "scorecards" that provide peer rankings on projected performance as well as historically based risk and return data on more than 10,000 funds, he said.
The new services are being offered to 401(k) customers and individuals through the website: www.financialengines.com.
