Financial Engines

Financial Engines was co-founded in 1996 by Professor William F. Sharpe (Bill), a recipient of the 1990 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for his pioneering work on the theory of financial economics, including how prices of financial assets are determined and the link between risk and return, Professor Joseph A. Grundfest, a former SEC commissioner and a professor of law at Stanford Law School, and the late Craig Johnson, then Chairman of the Venture Law Group. The company was founded to address the need for independent investment advice. Traditionally, high quality, personalized investment advice had been available only to large institutions and the affluent. Bill's vision was to leverage technology to make high quality independent advice available to millions regardless of their wealth or investment expertise.  And we've been on the cutting edge ever since, transforming the way people plan, save, and invest for retirement.

We started as the pioneer of online investment advice with the launch of the first independent Online Advice platform in 1998. Today, most large companies offer investment advice as part of their standard benefits offering. Following the introduction of Online Advice, we focused on expanding our service offerings to provide investors with advice on multiple tax-deferred accounts and taxable investments.

Along the way, we realized that not everyone wants to be a retirement expert. Some people would rather have someone else do the heavy lifting. The question is who? Unfortunately, no one was available at a price everyone could afford.

That all changed in 2004, when Financial Engines introduced our service now known as Professional Management, to provide personalized professional portfolio management to participants. In addition, we introduced the Financial Engines Retirement Evaluation, a personalized printed retirement assessment, which lets people know how close they are to reaching their retirement income goals based upon their current savings and investments. This retirement wake-up call is the start of how we provide Retirement Help for Life® .

As of December 31, 2009, Financial Engines works with more than 760 large employers (including 120 of the Fortune 500*) and a number of the largest 401(k) providers, including ACS, Fidelity Investments, Hewitt, ING, JPMorgan, Mercer, T. Rowe Price, and Vanguard. As a result, over one million people have used Financial Engines Online Advice or have their retirement accounts professionally managed by the company.

What's next? More help to more people. Retirement planning is a big responsibility that doesn't end when you turn 65. So, Financial Engines wants to help-both before and after you retire. We have our sights set on helping more people in need, including those already in retirement. While it's too early to say what that might look like, you can rest assured that it will reflect the same innovation and quality for which Financial Engines is known.

 

*As of June 30, 2010.