My Total Retirement^™ provides digital and mobile experience for retirement investors

Firm to launch new participant brand to help millions of Americans manage financial health and wealth

Empower Retirement today announced that it will launch an end-to-end retirement management experience for plan participants designed to help an individual from the goal-setting stage at the start of the one's career through a withdrawal strategy that's implemented when their working years conclude.

The new offering, called My Total Retirement^™, blends a traditional retirement managed account with a digital and mobile multi-touch experience designed to help meet the needs of today's employees.

In addition, Empower is announcing plans for a phased launch of a new brand for its participant offering, called EmpowerUp, which is to be focused on the broad needs of individuals. The new program will join My Total Retirement with healthcare savings, budget management, decision support tools and other elements of Empower's current suite of retirement services.

My Total Retirement

My Total Retirement will fully integrate into Empower's results-driven online participant experience. Individuals can use the new offering to view and model their savings as potential future monthly income. Empower will pull real-time data from all of a participant's income sources, savings and investment accounts and integrate those factors with demographic data into a planning experience using the input of investment professionals and Empower proprietary technology.

"No two retirement plan participants are created equal. Each has their own needs, goals and dreams and Empower is taking action to offer a more fulfilling retirement planning experience," said Edmund F. Murphy III, President of Empower Retirement. "We will be offering My Total Retirement so that employers and their advisers can help employees with a holistic retirement planning experience that goes beyond savings and investing."

My Total Retirement will include a multi-channel participant communication program that provides and implements personalized recommendations and is designed to increase engagement and action.

Employees in retirement plans that implement My Total Retirement will have access to a range of services through Empower Retirement Advisory Services provided by Advised Assets Group, LLC, a registered investment adviser. Advised Assets Group is a part of Great-West Investments, which has more than $100 billion under management or supervision.

"Investment customization driven by professional management is increasingly being recognized as a central element to one's financial plan," said Scott Sipple, President of Great-West Investments.

Through My Total Retirement, employees will have a new means to:

• Personalize their strategy: The new offering creates full alignment with each employee's life situation and goals to create a holistic view of all relevant information from inside and outside the retirement plan
• Manage as needs change: Participants will have access to ongoing professional investment management, with regular reviews and access to one-on-one support with investment adviser representatives
• Transition to retirement: As one's working years draw to a close, their strategy shifts to a focus on capital preservation with steady retirement income
• Optimize for Social Security: Participants can receive guidance to help get the most from Social Security

The new experience includes ongoing access to a team of specially trained investment adviser representatives who can answer questions about an employee's current strategy, discuss any changes to goals or potential income sources and help an employee personalize their profile for a more customized strategy.

New white paper

Along with the launch of My Total Retirement, Great-West Investments will be publishing a new white paper titled "Made to Measure: Evaluating the impact of a retirement managed account," which presents a method for valuing managed accounts and delineates the menu of features that may be offered through such an offering in a defined contribution plan.

"There's a rich opportunity to add some much-needed clarity to the market for advice services that are offered through retirement managed accounts," said Sipple. "The optimal measure of value is not simply historical investment performance, but rather it's a combination of factors that ultimately drive value."

Value to plan sponsors

Murphy noted that My Total Retirement includes fiduciary support that is designed to keep the best interests of participants in mind through improved employee education. In line with U.S. Department of Labor Qualified Default Investment Alternative rules My Total Retirement may serve as a plan's default option.

"Employers ultimately need to focus on what matters most -- managing their business. To help support administrative and fiduciary obligations, Empower Retirement Advisory Services addresses the benefits that may be most important to employees," he said.

EmpowerUp

Later this year, Empower will unveil a new branded participant program that will bring many elements of the firm's offering in to a single holistic and integrated experience. EmpowerUp will provide engaging features and educational elements designed to make it easy for individuals to take action on their financial health and wealth.

EmpowerUp will serve as a unifying theme, guiding participants to take steps to increase savings, invest wisely, manage their budget, plan for healthcare and consider their entire financial picture as they save for the future.

Murphy explained that the new program will be formally rolled out later this year with additional elements to come through a strategy of ongoing enhancements.

"EmpowerUp will capture the essence of how we serve the needs of individuals by helping them to take action toward a new financial future," said Murphy. "Empower has demonstrated that as we build new and innovative features into our offering users tend to respond and utilize these services and technologies to their benefit."

About Empower Retirement:

Headquartered in metro Denver, Empower Retirement administers $529 billion in assets for more than 8.3 million participants. It is the nation's second-largest retirement plan record keeper by total participants (Pensions & Investments, April 2017). Empower serves all segments of the employer-sponsored retirement plan market: government 457 plans, small, midsize, and large corporate 401(k) clients, non-profit 403(b) entities and private-label recordkeeping clients. For more information, please visit www.Empower-retirement.com.

About Great-West Investments:

From its headquarters in Greenwood Village, Colorado, Great-West Investments creates and delivers investment solutions for investors, advisors and the retirement market. Great-West Investments includes Great-West Funds, Inc., Great-West Capital Management, LLC, and Advised Assets Group, LLC, the latter two being registered investment advisers. Great-West Investments has more than $100 billion under management or supervision in mutual funds, managed accounts, capital preservation products, and retirement income solutions. For more information, please visit GreatWest.com.

As of Dec. 31, 2017. Information refers to all retirement business of Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Company and its subsidiaries and affiliates, including Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Company of New York, marketed under the Empower Retirement brand. There is no guarantee provided by any party that participation in any of the Advisory Services will result in a profit or that the related account will outperform a self-managed portfolio invested without assistance.

Media Contact:

Stephen Gawlik — 303-737-0899 (office), 617-417-4408 (cell)

Learn More

To learn more about how we’re empowering plan sponsors and their participants to be more engaged in their retirement plans than ever before, call us at 800-719-9914.