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Rating:Small Bytes: NetBenefits Goes Wireless Not Rated 3.0 Email Routing List Email & Route  Print Print
Friday, June 16, 2000

Small Bytes: NetBenefits Goes Wireless

Reported by Jason Shank

Fidelity Investments has formed an alliance with OmniSky Corporation to deliver its InstantBroker wireless trading technology to mobile investors via Palm(TM) V and Palm Vx handheld computers. Fidelity will use the service to offer wireless access to brokerage and employer-sponsored retirement accounts through NetBenefits as well as retail accounts.

The first phase of the wireless integrated portfolio project will enable investors with employer-sponsored retirement plans to view their account balances. Future planned enhancements include transactions, positions, holdings and company stock quotes.

Fidelity Brokerage customers will be able to use the service to access real-time watch lists, market indices, stock quotes and other financial information, as well as place eligible stock trades wirelessly through any OmniSky enabled Palm V or Palm Vx handheld.

Wireless access is scheduled to be available this summer to nearly 1 million investors who are Fidelity brokerage customers, have Fidelity-managed 401(k), 403(b) or 457 retirement plans and can view their combined portfolios via fidelity.com and Fidelity NetBenefits.

"This alliance with OmniSky advances Fidelity's mission to deliver the best technology, products and services to our customers across the broadest array of wireless devices and mobile commerce services," said Joseph G. Ferra, senior vice president, Fidelity Online Brokerage. "We are pleased to join forces with OmniSky to provide Fidelity's InstantBroker service via a standard wireless interface, which makes financial management more easy and convenient for mobile investors, and complements our leading edge Palm VII handheld, two-way pager and Web phones services."

***


Fidelity Investments Institutional Services Company (FIIS) has selected Eloquent to deliver on-demand product information to its wholesale representatives. FIIS will implement Eloquent's rich media communications solution to deliver on-demand product information to its wholesale representatives in order to bring its products to market more quickly and effectively.

The product can be used for internal as well as for outbound communications, including providing up-to-the-minute training for traders, extending the reach and value of live sales conferences, and quickly delivering new product information to both internal staff and customers, according to Eloquent.

***


The Vanguard Group (Valley Forge, Pennsylvania) will now provide individual shareholders and participants in employer-sponsored retirement plans with immediate access to account information through its Vanguard.com site. The site will enable Vanguard customers to manage all of their accounts with one stop.

This new capability integrates an online investment center for retirement plan participants and two interactive tools to help investors make sound decisions during significant life events, such as job changes, according to Vanguard.

A new tab on the site is "Your Employer Plan" which integrates Vanguard's current Participant Online platform (a separate online account access service utilized by many employer retirement plans) into Vanguard.com. This change allows employer-sponsored retirement plan participants to manage their plan and personal assets through a single site.

Plan participants can view their statements online and, with plan sponsor approval, elect to stop receiving printed statements via mail. A new homepage tab, "Your Employer Plan", provides easy identification and a quick link to participant account information.

Another tab "Lifetime Events -- 'Changing Jobs'" -- offers access to the first in a series of Vanguard's acclaimed Life Passages educational programs to be delivered online. "Changing Jobs" is designed to help investors through the process of evaluating retirement plan alternatives when they change jobs, and provides two interactive tools to help them take action on what they learn. The first tool helps job changers view the impact of a particular distribution option (rollover into an IRA, transfer assets into new employer's plan, leave assets in current plan, or take a cash distribution) and guides them through the distribution process step-by-step. Another tool demonstrates the tax implications of employer stock distributions based on an investor's tax rate, stock appreciation, time horizon, and other factors.

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Shares of the Vanguard Growth Equity Fund (VGEQX) are now available for investor purchase, according to the Valley Forge, Pennsylvania-based fund company. The no-load fund resulted from the reorganization of Turner Growth Equity Fund. The new fund brings the count of actively managed equity funds at Vanguard to twenty. Turner Investment Partners will remain as the fund's investment adviser.

Vanguard Growth Equity Fund will be team-managed by: Robert Turner, chairman and chief investment officer; John Hammerschmidt, senior equity portfolio manager; Christopher McHugh, senior equity portfolio manager; and Mark Turner, president.

The fund has net assets of $300 million and holds 84 securities. The fund is invested across 10 industry sectors and its top ten holdings represent 35% of net assets. The fund's top five sector positions are: 1) technology (52%); 2) consumer discretionary (13%); 3) health care (12%); 4) producer durables (8%); and 5) consumer staples (5%). The median market capitalization of the fund is $80.36 billion (data as of 4/30/2000). The expense ratio of the fund is expected to be 0.65%. The minimum initial investment is $10,000 for regular accounts and $1,000 for IRA and custodial accounts.

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A I M Management Group Inc. (AIM), an indirect subsidiary of AMVESCAP, has added the "Advisor Tool Box" to (www.aimfunds.com). The Tool Box is intended to work as an electronic briefcase and hold everything financial advisors need when discussing investing with their clients.

The tool includes presentations and articles that explain key investment concepts to clients; tools to manage and grow an advisor's business; portfolio manager commentary; and "Fund Kits" that hold AIM fund-specific literature and key selling points. The Tool Box also includes a "Sales Idea of the Week," utilizing multimedia to help financial advisors break down current investment topics for clients.

"We know that advisors are pressed for time. The Advisor Tool Box is designed to provide timely information in a bullet-point format," said Margaret Reilly, AIM's director of e-commerce. "The site is user-friendly and logically structured to continually provide the latest tools and information for financial advisors." 

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