State Street Global Advisors, the money management arm State Street Boston Corp., this month has begun marketing a new set of investment funds that employ the so-called lifestyle approach to investing.
With this approach, a money manager offers retail investors a choice of funds that are said to be appropriate for different savings horizons. For example, investors saving for retirement in 30 years are steered into portfolios with more growth stocks than those who plan to use their money in five years.
Lifestyle funds are relatively new to the investments business. One bank at the forefront of the market is Wells Fargo & Co., San Francisco, which sells its LifePath funds through its branch network and to 401(k) retirement plans.
Global Advisors calls its new portfolios the Life Solutions Funds. But unlike Wells Fargo's offerings, the Life Solutions Funds are collective trust funds, not mutual funds, said Theodore A. Miller, a principal in charge of defined contribution investment services at Global Advisors.
Additionally, the Life Solutions funds are being marketed only to 401(k) and other defined contribution plan sponsors.
The Life Solutions funds consist of two separate sets of three portfolios. One set of portfolios is actively managed, with investment pools pursuing different mixes of stocks and bonds.
The other set consists of passively managed funds that invest in a mix of stocks and bonds in proportion to various market indexes. Defined contribution plan sponsors can offer either the passively or actively managed portfolio sets to their employees.
"Life Solutions is going to be a major marketing effort for us during 1995," Mr. Miller said.
"We think that a substantial number of our existing clients and new clients will take a substantial look at it," he added.
