National Automobile Dealers and Associates Retirement Trusts to Offer mPower's Online Investment Advice to its Members
18 October 2000
National Automobile Dealers and Associates Retirement Trusts to Offer mPower's Online Investment Advice to its Members
SAN FRANCISCO--Oct. 18, 2000--mPower, a leading online financial advice provider, today announced that the National Automobile Dealers & Associates Retirement Trusts (NADART) has chosen mPower to provide online financial advice to its Investment Choice 401(k) plan members at auto dealerships nationwide. NADART will include mPower's retirement advice services as a core component of its Investment Choice 401(k) plans, providing every participant in the program with access to mPower's individually-tailored investment advice for their retirement portfolios."We believe sound, unbiased advice is a necessity for achieving financial success. Our Investment Choice 401(k) plan participants need highly personalized advice in order to earn investment returns comparable to those enjoyed in recent years," said Jim Apistolas, director, NADART training and communications. "After a thorough analysis of several advice providers, we decided that mPower's high level of customization and integration for seamless delivery was a perfect match our members."
Once the NADART-mPower service launches in 2001, each plan participant will have a personal home page on mPower's advice site, which will be customized with their plan's rules and the NADART investment menu. After the participants provide information regarding their financial objectives, time horizon and risk tolerance, they will receive fund-specific allocation recommendations based on their personal retirement planning goals. mPower also provides daily market analysis and "what if"-scenario functionality that allows participants to see the impact of altering certain variables such as risk tolerance or investment time horizon.
Three-fourths of all American workers are now enrolled in a defined contribution plan and one of the most significant trends in employment-based benefits, according to the Department of Labor, has been the increasing responsibility placed on American workers for their own retirement security. Consequently, 55 percent of employers with more than 10,000 plan participants believe that investment advice is one of the most important issues they will face in the next five to 10 years, according to a BARRA RogersCasey report (1999 Annual Defined Contribution Survey).
"By embedding the mPower advice feature as part of the core Investment Choice 401(k) product, NADART is clearly demonstrating its commitment to helping participants make informed decisions in managing their 401(k) accounts," said Audie Apple, Vice President of National Sales at mPower.
About National Automobile Dealers and Associates Retirement Trusts
The National Automobile Dealers & Associates Retirement Trusts (NADART) manages and administers 401(k), pension, and profit-sharing plans for dealerships and automotive trade associations in all 50 states. Since 1957, NADART has provided NADA members and their employees with an efficient means of accumulating capital for retirement. As a non-profit trust NADART gives NADA members the ability to offer this important benefit at a cost that is much lower than what is charged by for-profit companies for comparable services. NADART maintains over $3 billion in assets for over 150,000 participants at dealerships nationwide.
About mPower
Founded in 1995, mPower Advisors, L.L.C., (http://www.mpower.com), a registered investment advisor, was the first to offer affordable, objective, and actionable online investment advice to defined-contribution plan participants, and remains the leader in this field. Under the mPower umbrella are the award-winning 401Kafe (http://www.401kafe.com), the first independent, educational Web site about 401(k) plans, and IRA Junction (http://www.irajunction.com), a comprehensive information site for investors with Individual Retirement Accounts. From 1995-1999, mPower was called 401k Forum.