Jefferson National is teaming up with Trust Company of America to integrate Jefferson National’s Monument Advisor, a flat-fee investment-only variable annuity (IOVA), into TCA’s model-based portfolio management and trading platform. Advisors can now use sleeves to manage multiple models within a single IOVA, develop customized asset allocations linked directly to clients’ accounts and make multi-account trades online. The integration also lets advisors manage their tax-deferred vehicles alongside taxable accounts from a single workstation, making it easier for advisors to pull fees from cash accounts to improve tax deferral.
More NextShares Hit the Market
Eaton Vance launched the first exchange traded managed fund, a new fund structure that is a hybrid between an actively managed mutual fund and an ETF, in late February to much anticipation. But two more of these funds are coming to market; the Eaton Vance Global Income Builder NextShares (ticker: EVGBC) and Eaton Vance TABS 5-to-15 Year Laddered Municipal Bond NextShares (ticker: EVLMC) begin trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market today. The Global Income Builder NextShares fund will invest in common stocks, income obligations, preferred stock and hybrid securities worldwide. The Laddered Municipal Bond fund will take an equal-weighted approach to investing in municipal bonds with maturities from five to 15 years. The firm has registered 18 initial NextShares funds and expects to debut more of them later this year.
Seniors Embracing Segregation
Lest we forget that senior living is big business, the New York Times ran an interesting piece recently highlighting the latest trend in the industry—ethnicity-, religion- and lifestyle-specific communities. Facilities have sprung up catering to groups varying from Catholics, to LGBT community members to ethnic Chinese. And with these communities come very specific problems. For instance, one center had to petition the city to change its street address because the number 4 is considered unlucky in Chinese culture. Though such facilities seem to be thriving currently, the article does pose an interesting question: Are they sustainable? First-generation immigrants may seek out this type of service for a taste of home, but will their kids, who likely grew up in a more diverse atmosphere, feel the same compulsion? Time will tell.
