Financial planners working at shuttered wealth tech platform LearnVest will be offered positions at Northwestern Mutual, according to company spokeswoman Betsy Hoylman. Those choosing not to accept roles at the parent company “are being offered a generous severance package,” she said. LearnVest had 70 registered investment advisors, according to Discovery Data. The company announced its online and financial planning products would be shut down on June 5 as the company remodels the site into a digital education service. May 15 is the last day for the roughly 8,000 clients of the service to work with their financial planners.
American Retirees Are Still Pinched, Despite Bull Market
Roughly one in every four retirees is having financial challenges, even amid the current nine-year bull market, according to a recent poll by Gallup. The survey also found there is a disconnect between non-retirees and retirees in their perception of financial security: once retired, Americans tend to feel more secure about their financial future than those who are yet to retire, according to analysis of the poll, which found that 46 percent of non-retirees say they will come up short, financially, in retirement. That group is “subject to a consistent message from financial experts that Americans are not saving enough,” said the pollsters. On the other hand, 78 percent of retirees say they’re comfortable with the money they have. “One reason retirees are positive about their finances may be that they can get by on less money than they thought,” according to Gallup.
Buffalo Firms Merge, Bring Together Almost $900 Million in Assets
Two Buffalo, N.Y.-based wealth management firms announced they are merging, creating a group that will manage nearly $900 million in assets under management. Spectrum Wealth Management ($340 million AUM) is merging with WNY Asset Management ($552 million AUM) after four years of talks between them, according to The Buffalo News. Spectrum Owner John Lunghino and WNY Asset Management Managing Partner and Chief Compliance Officer John Pieroni are cousins and the merger is part of Lunghino’s succession plan.