What is Financial Engines?
Financial Engines is a leading provider of investment services to employers and financial institutions. The Company provides employers with a risk free way to provide their employees with investment advice and they will customize their services to fit each organizations needs.
Financial Engines provides advice through their AdviceServer platform, which is based on three web-enabled engines. Those engines consist of:
Provides employees with a realistic view of their individual financial picture by performing an analysis of their portfolio.
Advice Engine
Generates specific investment recommendations at the account level, which will assist each employee in reaching their specific goals.
Helps keep each employee on track by providing ongoing portfolio monitoring and advice notification.
The Company bases their advice on the following core principles:
How does it work?
Once an employer is set up with Financial Engines their employees receive a user name and password to begin using the online services. The employee is then taken to their individual investment center. The center consists of the following sections and information:
This area provides the employee with a clear picture of their retirement goals and total financial picture by running them though numerous scenarios and creating a realistic view of what their specific mutual funds stocks and other assets might be worth once they retire. This section helps the employees to choose the right level of risk and savings based on their forecast, portfolio and goals and presents the employees with a comprehensive and personalized financial strategy.
Based on the financial strategy, obtained from the My Info screen, the employee receives an Advice Action Kit generated in the Advice section of their personalized web site. This kit allows the employee to see the specific funds that Financial Engines recommends to help increase the employee´s goals. The Company will continue to monitor these funds and will make recommendations if they feel an employee could improve their forecast.
This screen provides the employee with research such as, financial scorecards, and the analysis of more than 11, 000 mutual funds and 7, 000 individual stocks.
Tracks the employee´s goals for the future.
This area provides the employee with educational information on finances. This information includes financial events, financial news, retire planning and investing basics.
What I liked?
The site appears to be easy to navigate and the information is laid out in terms people will understand. The information is not just displayed in report format; there are also charts and graphs that will help the employee to visualize their investments. The fact that the information is online makes it extremely easy for employees to use the service. By making it easy for them to use, it encourages employees to take a greater interest in their future,. People tend to use services more when it takes little effort on their part to partake in them. An employee can log on to use the service at work or at home and during all hours.
The services can be adapted to the organizations specific plan needs. In addition to this Financial Engines provides personalized services for each employee´s. They do not slot employees into generic investment profiles, instead they base their advice on each employees risk tolerance and complete financial portfolio. I think this feature would encourage employees to use the services because they are given personal attention and their total financial situation is examined.
The online services do not simply provide the employee with the stocks they should invest in it provides a wide variety of information. Employees can log on to get an update on their financial situation or they can log on to simply read the latest investment news found on the education screen. In addition to this it is not just the employee who can take advantage of what Financial Engines offers, the employee can receive advice on the investments of each member in their household.
The service does not stop once the employee is set up with their investments. Financial Engines continues to monitor the financial market and will notify the employees of recommendations that will improve their forecast by more than 3%. When recommendations are made, the employee will be notified when they log onto the site. This feature is a great way to help the employee keep their goals on track.
From an employer perspective Financial Engines provides them with a good amount of facts and data that show why the use of their services or even offering employees investment services is a good idea. What I liked was that the statistics did not appear outrageous; instead they appeared to be realistic. Some of the facts included on the site are:
When Financial Engines has recommendations for employees I think it would be a good idea to have email notifications sent out to employees. Some employees may not log on frequently enough to receive the recommendations in a timely manner. Having this service hooked up to email will encourage the employee to log onto the site and read more about the recommendation and to maybe take action more quickly. Even having email notifications sent out to employees that update them of their financial status may encourage employees to use the service more frequently.
There customer service could also be improved. I emailed for additional information regarding the product and I have yet to hear back.
For specific pricing information, interested companies must contact the Financial Engines directly at (650) 565-4900.
I think that Financial Engines services sound like they can provide employees with valuable and useable financial advice and information. The set-up of the services makes it extremely easy for employees to take advantage of what the Company has to offer, and eliminates the employers liability for offering financial advice. The listing of Financial Engines current clients is also quite impressive (AT&T, Motorola, Visa, Hallmark). However, unless the company´s customer service improves, some companies may be put off by the lack of attention they receive.
Financial Engines is a leading provider of investment to the workplace and financial institutions. The Company was founded by Economics Nobel Laureate William F. Sharpe, and co-founded by Joseph Grundfest (professor of law and business at the Stanford Law School) Craig Johnson (former commissioner of the SEC and founder of Venture Law Group). Financial Engines is located in Palo Alto, California.
1804 Embarcadero Rd.
Palo Alto, California 94303
Tel: (650) 565-4900 or (866) - MYADVISOR
Fax: (650) 565-4905