Today Putnam Investments [see profile] launched a new website for advisors. It includes the latest version of Putnam's FundVisualizer, which allows advisors to model portfolios from a universe of more than 11,000 mutual funds and ETFs and to make direct product comparisons.
"We want to provide advisors with an intuitive, yet highly sophisticated set of customized resources that dynamically integrates and presents data, analysis, and thought leadership," said Bill Connolly, head of global distribution at the Boston-based mutual fund firm, in a press release Thursday morning. "Our goal is to be a must-stop destination for the advisor community."
The new site also hooks advisors in to Putnam's Twitter and Facebook feeds, for reading and commenting. And advisors will also be able to provide feedback on content (such as PM commentary) on Putnam's site, too.
Company Press Release
BOSTON, September 22, 2011 – As part of its evolving strategy to utilize leading technology and web-based capabilities to further help financial advisors and their clients achieve their financial goals, Putnam Investments today officially launched a powerful new web site dedicated to providing advisors with a dynamic, personalized experience. Among its many innovative features, the web site, at www.putnam.com/advisor, allows for advanced, open-architecture portfolio modeling, to assist them in their work with clients.
In addition to introducing a series of technology-enabled and social media-driven practice management elements, the new Putnam advisor site builds upon its well-received analytical tool, FundVisualizer, which can now model entire investment portfolios from a universe of over 11,000 mutual funds and ETFs, as well as continue to provide head-to-head product comparisons.
“Our new financial advisor web site is designed to provide a superior experience for advisors, allowing them to even more effectively guide their clients in achieving their financial goals,” said Bill Connolly, Head of Global Distribution, Putnam Investments. “We want to provide advisors with an intuitive, yet highly sophisticated set of customized resources that dynamically integrates and presents data, analysis, and thought leadership. Our goal is to be a must-stop destination for the advisor community.”
Connolly indicated that advisors will now have access to the next version of Putnam FundVisualizer, allowing them to choose and package a virtually unlimited number of potential fund holdings, assign specific weightings and adjust time periods as desired, to gain insight into the performance behavior and importance of risk-return trade-offs of uniquely constructed portfolios and their underlying components. Additionally, advisors can compare separately created portfolios of their own design. The portfolios can utilize Putnam or non-Putnam product solutions.
Conversations, Feedback and Peer Observations,
Along with portfolio modeling capabilities, the new Putnam resource will easily allow the advisor community to join conversations on Putnam’s social media sites, including those on Twitter (http://twitter.com/#!/putnamtoday) and Facebook, (http://www.facebook.com/PutnamInvestments). A feedback component will also be available: advisors visiting the site will be able to rate much of its content, such as portfolio manager commentary. Also, the new web site will provide advisors with a sense of what their peers are viewing most on the site, including what investment issues and client-related topics are of most interest – displayed through a visual “tag cloud.”
The Putnam site will also provide advisors with an array of practice management and thought leadership resources to help in their day-to-day and long-term planning work with clients. Advisors will be able to:
· Explore an extensive Client Planning section, with detailed guidance for advisors working with clients who are saving for retirement, college and other life goals -- including presentations and seminars that advisors can download and use with their own clients;
· Access a content-rich “Our Perspectives” section, featuring articles and videos by Putnam strategists and portfolio managers discussing their investment outlook, providing timely insights on events that are shaping the global markets and discussing investment and savings strategies;
· Receive access to a wealth of fund data that allows them to gain a deeper product understanding, in a format that can be communicated directly to their clients;
· Review a Fund Playbook to see how any given fund can help clients pursue their goals, such as reducing the volatility in their portfolios or addressing the impact of rising interest rates on various mixes of funds;
· Use the new “My Putnam” feature to store their favorite content and set alerts for automatically e-mailed updates; and,
· Chat live with a personal support team at Putnam dedicated to their practice, to further identify customized solutions and more deeply explore business-building resources, practice management tools and continuing education courses.
“One of our chief objectives at every turn is to offer significant value to financial advisors, in the form of performance, product, service and best thinking,” explained Connolly. “In many ways, this new, innovative web site, dedicated to enhancing what advisors can bring to their client relationships, is a packaging of many of the best elements that Putnam has to offer to the marketplace.”
About FundVisualizer
FundVisualizer is part of an ongoing series of Putnam initiatives designed to provide advisors with rich, highly transparent content, delivered through leading technology. The dynamic tool provides visually compelling portfolio modeling and side-by-side comparisons of multiple products, including Putnam funds, as well as choices from over 11,000 funds across all categories — including ETFs — arming advisors even further in making informed investment decisions.
Putnam’s Commitment to Financial Advisors
Since Robert L. Reynolds became Putnam’s president and chief executive officer in 2008, the company has deepened its commitment to financial advisors and launched a series of innovations and initiatives to meet the emerging needs of advisors and their clients. Putnam has emphasized the use of technology, especially the Web, to provide advisors with the tools and information they need to assist their clients.
About Putnam Investments
Founded in 1937, Putnam Investments is a leading global money management firm with over 70 years of investment experience. In 2011, the firm was named one of the top 15 mutual fund families by Lipper/Barron’s for the second consecutive year. At the end of August 2011, Putnam had $122 billion in assets under management, including mutual fund assets of $62 billion and institutional assets of $60 billion. Putnam has offices in Boston, London, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Tokyo, Singapore and Sydney. For more information, visit putnam.com.
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