Principal^® launches new model portfolios with Wilshire

Principal Financial Group^® went live Friday with a new offering of model portfolios, in partnership with Wilshire and including iShares^® ETFs and BlackRock^® bond funds, to meet the evolving needs of advisors searching for diversification, scale, and performance. The 25 portfolios demonstrate each firm’s unique expertise and deliver a differentiated strategy for outcome-oriented investors.

“We’re expanding the ways in which we can help advisors more efficiently serve their clients and enable them to achieve their investment goals,” said Tim Hill, executive director of the U.S. Client Group for Principal Global Investors^®. “We believe these portfolios, bolstered by the complementary expertise of three asset management firms, produce an investment strategy with the capability to deliver alpha at an attractive price point.”

The Principal Wilshire Diversified Portfolios were built to suit a range of needs for investors. They consist of three series—Global Hybrid, U.S. Hybrid, and ETF only—that each have seven underlying portfolios designed to meet different risk tolerances. Additionally, there are three Separately Managed Account Models and one Diversified Income Model.

Twenty-four of the 25 portfolios are currently available on the Envestnet platform. The Principal Wilshire ETF Fixed Income portfolio will be live in June.

The launch of its new model portfolio lineup builds upon a strategic move Principal made earlier this year to enhance relationships with Registered Investment Advisors to deliver the product support they seek to best serve clients. Principal combined multiple client-facing teams to form a single team focused on supporting the RIA, Investment Only, and Bank Trust channels.

“Bringing these teams together with a single focus has allowed us to match up the best of what we have to offer with a continuum of coverage for RIAs with varying attributes, structures, and business mixes,” Hill said. “Our new series of model portfolios fits perfectly into this strategy, and they will dramatically improve the client experience, especially as the demand for models continues to accelerate.”

The Principal Wilshire Diversified Portfolios comprise of three differentiating characteristics:

1. Hybrid: The active management capabilities of Principal Global Investors and BlackRock’s low-cost, passive ETFs results in a hybrid portfolio that seeks risk-adjusted returns at an attractive price.
2. Open Architecture: Advisors have access to multi-managed portfolios that can provide greater diversification and relative resilience across market cycles by utilizing complementary strategies to maximize returns at varying levels of risk.
3. Institutional Portfolio Management: Every strategy in the Principal Wilshire Diversified Portfolios will go through Wilshire’s institutional due diligence process. Wilshire has the ultimate say as to which strategies are used to ensure every component part of the portfolio is playing a meaningful role in delivering superior, risk-adjusted returns.

“Delivering better outcomes across a wide client base is a challenge faced by most advisors today, and Wilshire is pleased to offer institutional quality options for a range of risk tolerances, built on the shared expertise of best of breed partners in the industry, at scale,” said Jason Schwarz, president and chief operating officer of Wilshire.

As the discretionary asset manager for the Principal Wilshire Diversified Portfolios, Wilshire will have responsibility for asset allocation, investment selection, monitoring, and rebalancing.

“Model portfolios are crucial to our growth strategy, and we are excited to work alongside Principal and Wilshire so investors have more choices to achieve their long-term investment goals,” said Armando Senra, head of iShares Americas at BlackRock. “Through iShares ETFs and our active management expertise, we are leveraging BlackRock’s investment platform to help bring innovation, greater precision, and versatility to model portfolios and meet the evolving needs of clients.”