State Street Global Advisors has launched a new series of target date funds—called the Target Retirement IndexPlus Strategy—that includes a 10% allocation to private markets managed by Apollo. 

These funds, structured as collective investment trusts (CITs), pair State Street’s index strategies for public markets with Apollo’s evergreen fund providing exposure to private credit, equity, and real assets. Brendan Curran of State Street likens this evolution to shifting into a new gear in retirement investing, acknowledging the growing significance of private assets in diversified portfolios. 

The collaboration follows earlier efforts between State Street and Apollo, including the launch of a private credit ETF. Apollo views this as part of its broader push to tap into the wealth management space and expand access to private investments, aiming to grow its assets in this segment to $150 billion by 2029. 

Finsum: The launch reflects a broader trend of asset managers integrating private markets into retirement solutions to meet demand for diversification and improved outcomes.

A wave of fixed annuity contracts sold in 2020 with five-year surrender periods is maturing, potentially unleashing over $70 billion in investable assets. Many of these annuities, purchased at average rates around 2%, are now competing with products offering closer to 5%, giving investors a strong incentive to move their money. 

While some clients may shift to higher-yielding fixed annuities, the trend is expected to boost flows into less capital-intensive options like RILAs and fixed indexed annuities. Insurers with strong distribution networks and scalable, SEC-registered products could be best positioned to capture this movement. 

At the same time, many traditional fixed annuity issuers are stepping back due to capital constraints, relying more on reinsurers or exiting the market altogether. For advisors, the end of these surrender periods presents both a challenge and opportunity—clients may be targeted by competitors, but those assets can also be redirected into new, potentially more flexible portfolio strategies.

Finsum: Paying attention to these trends in annuities can give advisors a leg up on the competition.

Custodian transitions can make RIAs anxious about losing clients, but careful planning and strong communication can significantly reduce attrition risk. On average, advisors may lose nearly 20% of client assets during a transition, but that figure often reflects poor preparation rather than an inevitable outcome. 

The key to a successful move lies in two areas: reinforcing client relationships and clearly explaining the reasons and benefits behind the change. Advisors should prioritize transparency without overloading clients with technical details, offering reassurance, a timeline, and emphasizing how the switch enhances service. 

Relationships that feel unstable before a transition may signal deeper issues, making them worth addressing whether or not a move happens. 

Finsum: Ultimately, sticking with a subpar custodian out of fear can hurt more than switching—especially if poor service impacts how clients perceive the advisor’s value.

Active ETFs combine professional management with the liquidity and transparency of ETFs, making them powerful tools for portfolio construction. They offer investors access to active security selection and the potential to outperform benchmarks, while still benefiting from intraday trading, tax efficiency, and often lower costs. 

These funds are especially valuable in areas of the market with inefficiencies, where deep research and targeted exposure can improve outcomes. Derivative-income ETFs can enhance portfolio income and stability by generating yield through options, offering an equity-based alternative to fixed income. 

Meanwhile, buffer ETFs help manage downside risk by capping losses (and gains) over set periods, making them useful for preserving capital during volatile markets. 

Finsum: Together, these active ETF strategies provide investors with flexible, diversified, and goal-oriented components for building resilient and adaptive portfolios.

Once considered obscure and underutilized, interval funds are emerging as powerful tools for investors seeking access to private markets without sacrificing structure or transparency. 

Kimberly Flynn, President of XA Investments, has long believed in their potential, seeing them as a middle ground between illiquid alternatives and mainstream accessibility. With investor interest in non-traditional assets on the rise, these funds are experiencing a surge in growth, gaining attention for their ability to offer periodic liquidity while deploying capital efficiently. 

Unlike mutual funds, which must maintain daily liquidity, interval funds can hold private assets and still meet redemption requests through built-in buffers and structured liquidity schedules. The uptick in SEC filings, new entrants like KKR and Hamilton Lane, and record inflows suggest that momentum is accelerating, positioning interval funds as a cornerstone of the alternative investing landscape. 

Finsum: Interval funds are meeting a specific need right now, and investors willing to sacrifice a little liquidity might be able to get better returns.