Financial Engines
JCPENNEY PROVIDES ITS 160,000 401(K) INVESTORS WITH FINANCIAL ENGINES® INVESTMENT ADVICE
Advice Technology Provides Scalable Solution to Help Associates Understand and Diversify Investment Risk
PALO ALTO, Calif., April 9, 2002 – Financial Engines, Inc. today announced that JCPenney has selected the Financial Engines Investment Advisor® service to provide investment advice to its 160,000 associates who are eligible to contribute or hold a balance in the JCPenney 401(k) plan and Eckerd 401(k) plan. JCPenney chose to offer advice to help associates understand their new and existing investment options, including company stock, and diversify their accounts. The service became available to associates on February 1, 2002.
JCPenney has had automatic enrollment in place for all eligible associates in its 401(k) plan for a number of years in order to encourage its associates to save for retirement. After conducting careful studies of its defined contribution plan, JCPenney became aware that many associates were not making changes to their default asset allocation resulting from their automatic enrollment. The Company chose to offer its associates Financial Engines' investment advisory service as a way to help associates see how diversifying their accounts may affect the amount of money they will have in retirement.
"JCPenney is committed to helping associates plan for retirement and Financial Engines plays an important role in that process," said Cathy Bonet, benefits program manager for JCPenney. "All associates have to do is log on to the service to set their financial goals for retirement and receive specific personalized investment advice."
To make associates aware of the Financial Engines service, JCPenney is undertaking a range of proactive communications efforts, including:
- articles on Financial Engines that appeared in the September 2001 and December 2001 issues of JCPeople, the company's internal publication;
- a videotape available to JCPenney units that includes information on the Company's 18 new investment options and the Financial Engines service;
- welcome kits mailed to associates in February that included a Financial Engines promotion that runs through April 30, 2002;
- posters with login instructions that were posted in 6,100 locations in March 2002; and
- a satellite broadcast that will be conducted this spring by JCPenney and Financial Engines for associates.
"JCPenney is a prime example of a company that is dedicated to doing the right thing for its associates," said Jeff Maggioncalda, president and CEO of Financial Engines. "With Financial Engines, JCPenney and Eckerd associates can see both the risk level of their current 401(k) plans and the chance that they have of reaching their retirement goals. Then, if necessary, Financial Engines gives them specific advice that maximizes the percentage chance that they will have a specified annual income in retirement, while reducing their potential short term loss."
Financial Engines first helps associates set a retirement goal and then clearly shows them the percentage chance of reaching that goal with their current investments. If they are not satisfied, Financial Engines will help associates explore how changing savings and risk levels, along with specific investments will improve their chances of living comfortably in retirement. Once they settle on a forecast they are comfortable with, associates receive specific investment recommendations that they can implement with a click.
About Financial Engines
Financial Engines provides advice technology to help financial institutions and employers solve real-world investor problems for their clients and employees. Financial Engines' services provide specific, actionable investment recommendations based on the outcomes an investor wants to achieve and can be delivered through the web, phone, or face-to-face. More than 20 financial institutions and 700 plan sponsors have hired Financial Engines to make advice available to over 2 million individuals. Nobel Prize winning economist Bill Sharpe founded the company with a revolutionary vision: to make institutional-quality advice available to financial institutions and employers that serve individual investors.For more information on Financial Engines, visit www.financialengines.com
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Financial Engines® is a registered trademark of Financial Engines. All other trademarks and service marks are the property of their respective owners. All advisory services are provided by Financial Engines Advisors LLC, a federally registered investment advisor.