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Part 2A of Form ADV: Firm Brochure
For Guided Pathways® Advisory Services
March 31, 2025
MissionSquare Retirement
777 North Capitol Street, N.E.
Washington, DC 20002-4240
800-669-7400
www.missionsq.org
This Brochure provides information about the qualifications and business
practices of MissionSquare Retirement. If you have any questions about the
contents of this Brochure, please contact us at 800-669-7400. The information
in this Brochure has not been approved or verified by the United States
Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) or by any state securities
authority. MissionSquare Retirement is an investment adviser registered with the
SEC. Such registration does not imply any level of skill or training.
Additional information about MissionSquare Retirement also is available on the
SEC’s website at www.adviserinfo.sec.gov.
Item 2 Material Changes
Since our last annual amendment to this Brochure on March 27, 2024, this
Brochure was updated on September 9, 2024 and March 31, 2025 for the
following material changes:
We updated the discussion in Item 4 about the MissionSquare Account
information that is considered in the investment advice development process
by Morningstar Investment Management LLC, which serves as the Independent
Financial Expert for Guided Pathways Advisory Services. As a reminder, you can
review and make any necessary updates to your personal and financial
information, and review and refine some of the assumed data points
Morningstar uses, through the online interface for Managed Accounts and Fund
Advice. Please see Item 4 for more information.
We updated the discussion in Item 7 to disclose when you will be unenrolled
from Managed Accounts based on your account balance and employment
status. Please see Item 7 for more information.
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Item 3 Table of Contents
Item 2 Material Changes .............................................................................................. 2
Item 3 Table of Contents .............................................................................................. 3
Item 4 Advisory Business .............................................................................................. 4
Item 5 Fees and Compensation................................................................................... 8
Item 6 Performance-Based Fees and Side-By-Side Management ....................... 10
Item 7 Types of Clients .............................................................................................. 10
Item 8 Methods of Analysis, Investment Strategies and Risk of Loss ................... 10
Item 9 Disciplinary Information ................................................................................. 13
Item 10 Other Financial Industry Activities and Affiliations .................................. 13
Item 11 Code of Ethics, Participation or Interest in Client Transactions, and
Personal Trading ......................................................................................................... 15
Item 12 Brokerage Practices ..................................................................................... 18
Item 13 Review of Accounts ...................................................................................... 18
Item 14 Client Referrals and Other Compensation ................................................ 19
Item 15 Custody.......................................................................................................... 19
Item 16 Investment Discretion .................................................................................. 19
Item 17 Voting Client Securities ............................................................................... 19
Item 18 Financial Information ................................................................................... 20
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Item 4 Advisory Business
MissionSquare Retirement is a Delaware non-stock, non-profit corporation
established in 1972 that assists state and local governments and their agencies
and instrumentalities and certain non-profit entities (“Plan Sponsors”) in the
establishment and maintenance of deferred compensation and qualified
retirement plans (“Retirement Plans”) for their employees. We offer a full range
including
of retirement plan administration services to Plan Sponsors,
administration, recordkeeping, and education services. We have been an SEC
registered investment adviser since 1983 and provide a number of different
investment advisory services, including our Guided Pathways Advisory Services
described in this Brochure.
Since March 2007, we have offered Guided Pathways Advisory Services to
participants in Retirement Plans that we administer. Since March 2013, we have
offered Guided Pathways Advisory Services to investors in the MissionSquare
IRA that we administer. In this Brochure we refer to your Retirement Plan or
MissionSquare IRA account that we administer as your “MissionSquare
Account”.
Our Guided Pathways Advisory Services include:
Managed Accounts – discretionary, ongoing investment management for
allocation of your invested assets among the mutual funds and other
pooled investment vehicles and investments (“funds” or “investment
options”) available in your MissionSquare Account; and
Fund Advice – nondiscretionary, point-in-time,
individualized fund
specific investment portfolio recommendations to help you select specific
funds from among the funds available in your MissionSquare Account
(also sometimes referred to as point-in-time Advice).
The availability of Managed Accounts and/or Fund Advice to you will depend
on the features of your MissionSquare Account. Please see Item 7 for additional
information.
We deliver Guided Pathways Advisory Services via a combination of online, mail,
and telephone media as well as in-person meetings. Our representatives can
deliver or facilitate the delivery of our Guided Pathways Advisory Services to
you.
As part of Guided Pathways Advisory Services, we have entered into a contract
with Morningstar Investment Management LLC to serve as the Independent
Financial Expert (“IFE”). Morningstar Investment Management is an SEC
registered investment adviser and wholly owned subsidiary of Morningstar, Inc.
In its role as IFE, Morningstar Investment Management (“Morningstar”) first
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develops overall asset class allocation models. It then develops fund-specific
investment portfolios for each of the asset class allocation models. Morningstar
selects certain funds for the fund-specific investment portfolios from among the
eligible funds available in your MissionSquare Account. If you are a participant
in a Retirement Plan we administer, the funds eligible for inclusion in the
portfolios are limited to only those funds chosen for the Retirement Plan by your
Plan Sponsor. If you are a MissionSquare IRA investor, the funds eligible for
inclusion in the portfolios are limited to those funds permitted by the
MissionSquare IRA. Certain investment options are ineligible for inclusion in the
portfolios recommended through Managed Accounts or Fund Advice,
including assets you hold in a self-directed brokerage window in your
MissionSquare Account.
If you enroll in Managed Accounts discretionary management, Morningstar
constructs the fund-specific investment portfolio that it determines is most
appropriate for you based on your personal and financial situation, investment
time horizon, sustainable retirement income, and other relevant factors.
Morningstar may use information provided by independent third parties, such
as mutual fund data or index providers, in the construction of advice. We then
allocate the assets of your account in accordance with Morningstar’s selected
portfolio. Typically, on a quarterly basis, or as you notify us of changes to your
personal and financial information, Morningstar re-examines the investment
portfolio to determine (1) whether to rebalance the funds within your existing
portfolio, or (2) if a reallocation to a different investment portfolio is needed. If
a new investment portfolio is needed, your assets will be reallocated and
rebalanced to the new target asset allocation. Please see Item 8 below for
additional information.
If you receive nondiscretionary Fund Advice, Morningstar recommends the
appropriate fund-specific
investment portfolio, we deliver Morningstar’s
recommendation to you, and then you choose whether to implement the
recommendation.
Morningstar employs Monte Carlo simulations to determine the likely annual
retirement income that you will be able to sustain, through depletion of
retirement savings, over a period greater than normal life expectancy. If you are
retired and are enrolled in Managed Accounts, Morningstar provides a
recommended withdrawal plan designed to optimize the tax efficiency of
withdrawals from each available income source. Advice and recommendations
are available through the online interface for Managed Accounts and Fund
Advice.
Your Personal and Financial Information
The advice and recommendations you receive through Guided Pathways
Advisory Services are based on your personal and financial information that has
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been provided to us and certain assumptions Morningstar uses in the advice
process. You are responsible for the accuracy and completeness of your
personal and financial information. Your failure to keep your personal and
financial information updated can materially affect the value of the advice
and recommendations you receive through Guided Pathways Advisory
Services. You should review your personal and financial information on a
periodic basis and as needed. You can review and make any necessary updates
to your personal and financial information, and review and refine some of the
assumed data points Morningstar uses, through the online interface for
Managed Accounts and Fund Advice. You can access that interface by logging
in to your MissionSquare Account.
Your personal and financial information is used to personalize the advice and
recommendations you receive through Managed Accounts and Fund Advice.
Personal and financial information includes certain required minimum data
points, including but not limited to age, salary, savings rate, desired retirement
age, and desired retirement income, as well as information about your
MissionSquare Accounts, including MissionSquare Accounts that you inherited
or received as the result of Qualified Domestic Relations Order (“QDRO”).
Information about your MissionSquare Accounts will be shared with
Morningstar and considered in Morningstar’s investment advice development
process. If you hold assets in a self-directed brokerage window in your
MissionSquare Account, those assets are ineligible for inclusion in the fund-
specific investment portfolios recommended by Morningstar, as discussed
above, but those assets will be considered by Morningstar in the investment
advice development process at an allocation percentage determined by
Morningstar, unless you indicate the actual allocation of those assets through
the online interface for Managed Accounts and Fund Advice.
We encourage you to provide additional relevant personal and financial
information to help personalize the investment advice you receive, such as
information about your spouse or partner, and assets you hold outside of your
MissionSquare Account (“Outside Accounts”). If this information is not provided
as part of your initial enrollment, you should use the online interface in order to
provide any additional personal and financial information and ensure such
information remains accurate and complete.
While we do not provide Fund Advice or Managed Accounts with respect to
your Outside Accounts, if you provide information about your Outside Accounts
Morningstar will consider your Outside Accounts in the advice process. For
example, if you provide sufficient information for Morningstar to know that your
Outside Assets are invested more in equity, Morningstar may recommend a
more conservative investment portfolio when providing advice to you through
Fund Advice and Managed Accounts. Conversely, if you provide sufficient
information for Morningstar to know that your Outside Assets are invested more
in cash or bonds, or if information is provided on a pension/defined benefit
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plan, Morningstar may recommend a more aggressive investment portfolio
when providing advice to you through Fund Advice or Managed Accounts. If
you provide information about your Outside Accounts, Morningstar may also
provide you with a recommended asset allocation for those Outside Accounts
as a whole. This information should not be considered advice to buy or sell any
particular fund or other security or investment option.
Your Risk Capacity and Using Morningstar’s Optional Risk Tolerance
Questionnaire
Morningstar uses its “total wealth” approach to assess objectively your personal
and financial information, including your risk capacity. With the total wealth
approach Morningstar considers both your financial assets as well as your
nonfinancial assets. Nonfinancial assets include your human capital, which is
your ability to earn money and save over the course of your life. Nonfinancial
assets such as human capital are treated as relatively conservative assets, like
bonds. Thus, if your total wealth is comprised largely of human capital and other
conservative assets, Morningstar may recommend a more aggressive portfolio
for you, and vice versa.
for a 20% weighting
in Morningstar’s
In addition, Morningstar provides an optional risk tolerance questionnaire to
help further personalize the investment advice you receive through Managed
Accounts and Fund Advice. There is no guarantee that the results of the risk
tolerance questionnaire will perfectly assess your risk tolerance. If you choose
to complete the risk tolerance questionnaire, Morningstar will consider your
responses when developing investment advice for you. The questionnaire
results account
target equity
recommendations when constructing an advice portfolio for you, with the other
80% weighting coming from Morningstar’s total wealth determinations. Review
and submission of the risk tolerance questionnaire must be completed by you,
or by one of our representatives on your behalf and at your direction, through
the online interface for Managed Accounts and Fund Advice.
The forecast and recommendations Morningstar provides may involve more or
less investment risk than you are comfortable with. Please see Item 8 for more
information.
What Happens if You Choose to Exclude Funds from Morningstar’s
Recommendations?
You can request that certain funds in your MissionSquare Account be excluded
from the investment advice you receive. However, if Morningstar determines
that one of your requested fund restrictions prevents Morningstar from building
an appropriately diversified portfolio for you, you will be required to remove the
restriction in order to use our advisory services.
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If you enroll in Managed Accounts and apply one or more restrictions on your
account, those restrictions will remain in place on your account until you instruct
us otherwise. Fund restrictions and changes thereto must be submitted by you,
or by one of our representatives on your behalf and at your direction, through
the online interface for Managed Accounts and Fund Advice. Excluding one or
more funds recommended by Morningstar from your investment portfolio may
decrease the likelihood that you will achieve your retirement goals as calculated
by Morningstar.
Client Assets
As of December 31, 2024, we managed $5,369,830,272 in assets under the
Managed Accounts service, all on a discretionary basis. We do not manage
assets for Fund Advice clients, as discussed above.
Item 5 Fees and Compensation
Managed Accounts. If you enroll in Managed Accounts, an annual advisory fee
is charged based on the assets in your enrolled MissionSquare Account(s) on a
monthly basis and is deducted pro-rata in arrears against all eligible investments
in your Managed Account(s).
If you enroll multiple accounts in Managed Accounts, the asset-based fee is
calculated based on the aggregate account balance for all of your enrolled
MissionSquare Accounts.
Our standard Managed Accounts Fee Schedule is shown below:
Annual Fee
Account Balance
First $100,000
Next $200,000
Next $200,000
Over $500,000
0.50%
0.40%
0.30%
0.20%
The advisory fee is charged to your Account(s) monthly and is based on the
aggregate month-end balance of all your enrolled MissionSquare Accounts,
prorated for the number of days each account is enrolled in Managed Accounts
for that month. If your participation in Managed Accounts terminates before the
last day of the month, the fee will be based on your aggregate balance as of the
last day you were enrolled in Managed Accounts, prorated for the number of
days each account is enrolled in Managed Accounts for that month.
If you are a participant in a Retirement Plan we administer, the standard
Managed Accounts Fee Schedule may be waived or discounted by agreement
between us and your Plan Sponsor. However, we will not negotiate our
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Managed Accounts Fee Schedule directly with you. Our standard Fee Schedule
is subject to change as detailed in the agreement we enter into with you or, if
applicable, your Plan Sponsor. Certain legacy clients of our Managed Accounts
service pay fees lower than our standard Fee Schedule shown above. If you
enroll multiple accounts in Managed Accounts, the lowest Fee Schedule
available to you will apply to all of your enrolled Managed Accounts. The fees
we charge for Managed Accounts may be lower or higher than the fees charged
by other providers of similar services.
Fund Advice. We do not charge you a separate advisory fee for Fund Advice.
Other Fees You Pay
If you invest in the funds made available in your MissionSquare Account, you will
indirectly bear your proportionate share of the fees and expenses that are paid
at the fund level and borne by all shareholders. These fees and expenses
typically include, among others, investment advisory, transfer agent, custodial
and distribution fees and portfolio brokerage costs that are paid by each fund
and/or its underlying funds. Certain funds may charge a redemption fee on
specific transactions. Transactions initiated under Managed Accounts may result
in such redemption fees being charged to you. Any applicable redemption fees
will be deducted directly from your account. These fund fees and expenses are
in addition to the advisory fees we charge for Managed Accounts.
The funds available to you in your Retirement Plan are selected by your Plan
Sponsor. The funds available to you in the MissionSquare IRA are limited to
those funds permitted by the MissionSquare IRA. Only one share class of a fund
is available to you in your Retirement Plan or MissionSquare IRA. A lower
expense share class may be available to you in an account held outside of
MissionSquare Retirement.
Other Compensation We Receive
We (or one of our affiliates) typically receive asset-based fees for providing
investment advisory, recordkeeping, administrative and/or retirement plan
administration services with respect to the funds in which you invest through
your MissionSquare Account. Please see the response to Item 11, under
Participation or Interest in Client Transactions, for a description of any potential
conflict of interest from our receipt of these fees.
Within your MissionSquare Account, you do not have the option to purchase
funds recommended through Fund Advice or Managed Accounts through other
brokers or agents. However, you do have the option to purchase some of these
recommended funds outside of your MissionSquare Account through other
brokers or agents.
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Item 6 Performance-Based Fees and Side-By-Side Management
We do not receive fees from clients that are based on a share of capital gains
on, or capital appreciation of, the assets in client accounts.
Item 7 Types of Clients
We only offer Guided Pathways Advisory Services in MissionSquare Accounts.
The availability of these services to you depends on the features of your
MissionSquare Account. If you are a Retirement Plan participant, your Plan
Sponsor must expressly adopt Managed Accounts before we can make it
available to you. There is no minimum account size required to participate in
our Guided Pathways Advisory Services. However, if you enroll in Managed
Accounts in your MissionSquare-administered Retirement Plan account and that
account balance goes to $0 and you have retired or separated from service with
the employer that sponsors that Retirement Plan, your account will be
unenrolled from Managed Accounts.
If you have more than one MissionSquare Account, you may have access to
Managed Accounts and/or Fund Advice in one or more of those accounts.
When you enroll in Managed Accounts (or confirm an existing enrollment) or
implement the fund recommendations you receive through Fund Advice in one
of your MissionSquare Accounts, you will be required to enroll in Managed
Accounts (or confirm an existing enrollment) or
implement the fund
recommendations you receive through Fund Advice in all of your MissionSquare
Accounts that offer these services.
Item 8 Methods of Analysis, Investment Strategies and Risk of Loss
All asset allocation guidance and fund recommendations provided to you
through Guided Pathways Advisory Services is developed by Morningstar
through its digital advice platform. Morningstar first constructs asset class
allocation models to provide a spectrum of risk/reward choices appropriate for
a broad range of investors. The allocation among asset classes is based on
historic and projected returns and return patterns (standard deviations and
correlations) for the asset classes.
After the asset class allocation models are established, Morningstar then selects
certain funds from among the eligible investment options in your MissionSquare
Account to construct fund-specific investment portfolios for each of the asset
class allocation models. Morningstar uses various quantitative criteria including
style-based returns and tracking error, fund expense levels, and alpha. In
addition, Morningstar conducts a qualitative review and assessment for each
fund-specific investment portfolio prior to its recommendation. Morningstar
monitors and reviews the model advice portfolios to ensure they stay in line with
stated strategic asset allocation targets and continue to meet Morningstar’s
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investment criteria. If Morningstar determines a more attractive fund is available
for one of its model advice portfolios, Morningstar may apply restrictions in
order to phase the fund out of certain effected Managed Accounts over time, if
Morningstar deems it appropriate in order to minimize large reallocations
and/or short-term redemption fees to investors.
For Retirement Plans, your Plan Sponsor has exclusive responsibility for
selecting the Plan’s investment options, and those selections are made
independent of Guided Pathways Advisory Services. For the MissionSquare
IRA, we select the available
investment options; however, we do not
recommend the selection of any particular investment option for inclusion in
Fund Advice or Managed Accounts. Morningstar’s investment portfolios are
based on and specific to the eligible investment options available in your
MissionSquare Account. Morningstar, however, does not determine the
investment options upon which the investment portfolios are based.
For more information about the investment principles, assumptions and
methodology Morningstar uses to generate the investment advice made
available to you through our Guided Pathways Advisory Services, please see
Morningstar’s methodology summary document, which is available on the
online interface for Managed Accounts and Fund Advice. You can access that
interface by logging into to your MissionSquare Account.
Discretionary Management Under Managed Accounts
If you enroll in Managed Accounts, we will manage the eligible assets in your
MissionSquare Account so that they generally align with the appropriate model
advice portfolio recommended for you by Morningstar. Typically, on a quarterly
basis, or as you notify us of changes to your personal and financial information,
Morningstar re-examines the model advice portfolio to determine if reallocation
to a different model advice portfolio is needed. If a new model advice portfolio
is needed, your Managed Account will be reallocated and rebalanced to the
new model’s target allocation. If a new model advice portfolio is not needed,
Morningstar reviews the allocation of your Managed Account to determine if
any fund deviates from the recommended model advice portfolio by more than
an appropriate amount as determined by Morningstar. If it does, your Managed
Account will be rebalanced by transferring assets among the currently
designated funds to ensure your Managed Account is consistent with the target
allocation of the recommended model advice portfolio.
If a fund in your MissionSquare Account closes or is replaced with a new fund,
your Managed Account assets will temporarily not be aligned with the model
advice portfolio recommended for you by Morningstar. In addition, in certain
instances rebalancing transactions can be temporarily delayed, such as when
fund or account restrictions apply or when data validation errors occur. In these
scenarios, your Managed Account will be realigned with the recommended
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model advice portfolio as soon as reasonably practicable based on the
circumstances.
Investment Risks
As discussed in Item 4 above, the online interface for Managed Accounts and
Fund Advice includes an optional personal risk tolerance questionnaire, which
can help further personalize the investment advice you receive. If you choose
to not complete the personal risk tolerance questionnaire, Morningstar will
continue to objectively assess your risk capacity using its total wealth approach,
but the investment advice provided under Guided Pathways Advisory Services
will not take into account, nor will it make any assumption related to, your
personal risk tolerance determinations with respect to your investment
objectives. If you choose to complete the questionnaire, the results will account
for a 20% weighting in Morningstar’s target equity recommendations when
constructing an advice portfolio for you, with the other 80% weighting coming
from Morningstar’s total wealth determinations. For these reasons, the forecast
involve more or less
and recommendations Morningstar provides may
investment risk than you are comfortable with.
Our Guided Pathways Advisory Services rely on the digital advice platform of
Morningstar. There are risks associated with relying on digital advice, which can
include the following: the output of the digital advice depends upon the
accuracy and completeness of the personal and financial information we
receive; the digital advice relies on certain assumptions that may not reflect your
particular needs or goals and may not be updated timely; and, if you enroll in
Managed Accounts, your account will not be individually monitored by
investment personnel and your account will not be rebalanced based on market
conditions or other similar factors.
In addition, investments in the funds recommended by Morningstar are subject
to the risks associated with investing in mutual funds, collective funds, and other
securities, and will not always be profitable. Investing in securities involves
risk of loss that you should be prepared to bear. Although, each investment
option available through your MissionSquare Account is subject to a degree of
risk that could affect its performance, certain investment options entail
additional risk specific to their asset class. For example, high yield bond
investments are subject to increased risk of default, compared to higher rated
securities. Foreign investments are subject to greater risks of currency
fluctuations and political uncertainty. Equity securities of companies with
relatively small market capitalization may be more volatile than securities of
larger, more established companies. Specialty funds invest in a limited number
of companies and are generally non-diversified. This is not intended to be an
exhaustive list of risks associated with investment options. You should regularly
review the disclosure materials for the investments in your MissionSquare
Account(s) to understand the risks of each investment.
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Considerations for Participants in Retirement Plans with the
MissionSquare Retirement IncomeAdvantage Fund
The MissionSquare Retirement IncomeAdvantage Fund no longer accepts
transfers or new contributions. Participants can remain in the Fund but are not
able to add new money. Existing money in the Fund continues to receive
guarantees.
the MissionSquare Retirement
IncomeAdvantage Fund
If you are invested in the MissionSquare Retirement IncomeAdvantage Fund
(the Fund), you are not eligible to participate in Managed Accounts or Fund
Advice in any of your MissionSquare Accounts. If you sell your investment in the
Fund, you will lose the guarantees you have associated with that Fund. Please
see
Important
Considerations document for more information.
The MissionSquare Retirement IncomeAdvantage Fund invests in a separate
account under a group variable annuity issued by a third-party insurance
company. The separate account, in turn, invests in underlying collective trust
funds that are subject to the risks associated with investing in those vehicles.
Insurance guarantees (i.e., the ability of the MissionSquare Retirement
IncomeAdvantage Fund to allow you to make periodic withdrawals after your
account balance has been depleted) are provided by the third-party insurance
company and are based on that company’s claims paying ability.
your Retirement Plan
includes
If
the MissionSquare Retirement
IncomeAdvantage Fund and you would like more information on the Fund,
please review the Fund’s disclosure documents. These are available to you by
logging into your MissionSquare Account.
Item 9 Disciplinary Information
Not Applicable.
Item 10 Other Financial Industry Activities and Affiliations
Banking Institution
VantageTrust Company, LLC (“VTC”) is a New Hampshire non-depository trust
company and is one of our wholly owned subsidiaries. VTC is the sole trustee
of VantageTrust, VantageTrust II and VantageTrust III (collectively, the “VT
Trusts”), trusts established and maintained by VTC for the purpose of the
collective investment and reinvestment of assets of certain tax-exempt, deferred
compensation and qualified retirement plans, retiree welfare plans, related
trusts and certain other eligible investors. We (and some of our affiliates) are
compensated for certain recordkeeping, management, and administrative
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services provided to VTC for the benefit of the eligible investors within the VT
Trusts. VTC also serves as the qualified custodian for clients’ Managed
Accounts. Please see Item 15 for more information. Some of our management
persons are also management persons of VTC.
Investment Adviser
MissionSquare Investments is one of our wholly owned subsidiaries and is an
SEC registered
investment adviser. MissionSquare Investments provides
investment advisory and management services to VTC with respect to certain
investment options of the VT Trusts (referred to in this Brochure as our “in-house
funds”), including in-house funds that are made available in certain Retirement
Plans that we administer. Some of our management persons are also
management persons of MissionSquare Investments.
Broker-Dealer
MissionSquare Investment Services is one of our wholly owned subsidiaries and
is a broker-dealer registered with the SEC and is a member of FINRA. Some of
our management persons are also management persons and registered
representatives of MissionSquare
Investment Services. MissionSquare
Investment Services markets our in-house funds solely to Plan Sponsors and
other institutional clientele. MissionSquare Investment Services does not
provide fund recommendations to you or other participants in Retirement Plans.
Collective Trust Funds
Certain Retirement Plans that we administer include our in-house funds. These
are primarily structured as collective trust funds or “CITs.” These funds are easily
identified because their names typically start with “MSQ” or “MissionSquare.”
Some of our in-house funds invest in our other in-house funds. For example,
our target-date funds, the MissionSquare Retirement Target Funds, invest in
other MissionSquare Funds.
receives asset-based
fees
for
The
We receive asset-based fees for administrative services provided to VTC with
respect to our in-house funds. Our wholly owned subsidiary, MissionSquare
Investments,
investment advisory and
administrative services provided to VTC with respect to certain in-house funds.
MissionSquare Investments has entered into agreements with subadvisors for
the performance of some or all of its advisory duties and responsibilities relating
to certain of these funds. MissionSquare Investments retains the responsibility
and authority to monitor and review the performance of each subadvisor it
engages, and VTC retains oversight of MissionSquare Investments’ advisory
responsibilities.
investment advisory fees paid to MissionSquare
Investments are in addition to any fees paid to the subadvisors.
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Conflicts
Please see the response to Item 11, under Participation or Interest in Client
Transactions, for a description of any potential conflict of interest from the above
financial industry affiliations.
Item 11 Code of Ethics, Participation or Interest in Client Transactions, and
Personal Trading
Code of Ethics
We adopted a Code of Ethics pursuant to Advisers Act Rule 204A-1 to help us
meet our fiduciary obligations to our advisory clients to act in their best interests
and to subordinate our interests and our teammates’ interests to the interests of
our advisory clients. The Code of Ethics helps to ensure that our teammates
avoid or appropriately manage conflicts with the interests of our advisory clients.
Under the Code of Ethics, all of our teammates are required to comply with
ethical restraints relating to our advisory services, including restrictions on
giving or receiving gifts or entertainment from or to clients or other third parties
in violation of our gifts and business entertainment policy.
Our Code of Ethics also addresses the SEC’s “pay-to-play” rule, which is
designed to prevent investment advisers from making political contributions or
hidden payments in an effort to influence their selection by government officials
to provide advisory services to government entities. Our Code of Ethics
prohibits political contributions to certain state and local government officials,
restricts using third party solicitors for potential clients unless those solicitors are
subject to the pay to play rule, and implements a ban on engaging in fundraising
activities for certain officials, political action committees, as well as state and
local political parties. Our Political Contributions Policy contained in the Code
of Ethics applies to all officers and employees with us or one of our affiliated
entities regardless of position, responsibility or title. Exceptions to the political
contribution prohibition are possible only upon approval of our Chief
Compliance Officer (“CCO”) and only if, among other things, the amount of the
contribution is the lesser of $150 per year or per election.
Also, as part of the Code of Ethics, we have adopted procedures to control the
use of material, non-public information. These procedures take into account
that we may, and our related persons may, from time to time come into
possession of material nonpublic and other confidential information which, if
disclosed, might affect an investor's decision to buy, sell or hold a security.
Under applicable law, we are prohibited from improperly disclosing or using
such information for our personal benefit or for the benefit of any other person,
regardless of whether such other person is one of our advisory clients.
Accordingly, if we come into possession of material non-public or other
confidential information with respect to any company, we may be prohibited
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from communicating such information to, or using such information for the
benefit of, our clients, and we have no obligation or responsibility to disclose
such information to, nor responsibility to use such information for the benefit of,
our clients when following policies and procedures designed to comply with
law.
A copy of the Code of Ethics is available to any client or prospective client upon
request.
Participation or Interest in Client Transactions
Fund Advice and Managed Accounts may be made available to you if you are a
participant in a Retirement Plan we administer. Through the Retirement Plans
we administer we make available our in-house funds as well as third-party funds.
With respect to MissionSquare IRA accounts, we make available third-party
funds. As described above in Item 10, certain in-house funds invest in other in-
house funds. When we make the in-house funds available to you a conflict of
interest exists because we (or one of our wholly owned subsidiaries) receives
compensation in the form of advisory and/or administrative fees based on the
assets invested in our in-house funds.
Additionally, we receive administrative fees from our third-party fund settlement
and clearing agent (“Clearing Agent”) for providing administrative and other
services based on Retirement Plan assets invested in third-party funds. These
administrative fees come from payments made by third-party funds to the
Clearing Agent. We may credit or make payments to certain Retirement Plans
or employers based, in part, on anticipated administrative fee income from our
Clearing Agent or we may reduce the fees charged to Retirement Plans or
employers for plan administration or other services based on such anticipated
fee income that we expect to receive (“administrative allowances”). These
administrative allowances are negotiated, may not be directly tied to the
payments we receive, and may be more or less than actual payments received.
Any such crediting, allowance, or fee reduction arrangement is described in the
Administrative Services Agreement we enter into with each Retirement Plan.
We select the MissionSquare IRA investment options. However, we do not
recommend the selection of any particular investment option for inclusion in
Fund Advice or Managed Accounts. We are not acting as a fiduciary when we
select the MissionSquare IRA investment options. As described above, we will
receive compensation based on your allocation of assets among investment
options within the MissionSquare IRA.
Because of the above, a potential conflict of interest exists when we provide
Managed Accounts or Fund Advice because we also receive the additional
compensation described above. In handling this potential conflict, we have
designed these services in accordance with the United States Department of
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cannot
influence
the
Labor Advisory Opinion 2001-091A (the “Advisory Opinion”). The Advisory
Opinion provides an authorization for retirement plan and IRA providers to offer
investment advice to their participants provided, among other things, that the
advice is generated by an Independent Financial Expert (“IFE”). We have
selected Morningstar to act as the IFE. Under the Advisory Opinion and our
contract with Morningstar, we
investment
recommendations generated for you by Morningstar. Thus, all of the specific
fund recommendations you receive through Managed Accounts and Fund
Advice come from Morningstar, not MissionSquare Retirement.
We disclose the specific fees and expenses, as well as the compensation
received from third-party funds, associated with your Retirement Plan’s
investment options to your Plan Sponsor, who has a fiduciary duty to select the
investment options that are made available to you and the other participants in
your Retirement Plan.
Personal Securities Trading
We (including our teammates) are not obligated to refrain from recommending,
buying or selling any security that we recommend to our clients, and may buy
or sell for our own accounts, or for the accounts of any other client, any such
security. Because certain of our teammates (defined as “Access Persons”) may
invest in the same securities as our clients, there exists a potential conflict of
interest from placing their own personal interests ahead of those of our clients.
There is also a potential conflict from our Access Persons having access to
material, non-public information about the investments of our clients and using
such information for personal gain in breach of our fiduciary duty to our advisory
clients.
In order to address these conflicts, we have implemented a Personal Securities
Trading Policy that governs the personal investing activities of our Access
Persons. The Personal Securities Trading Policy is designed to prevent unlawful
practices in connection with personal securities trading of our teammates.
Access Persons are required to pre-clear certain securities trades and provide
quarterly reports of their personal transactions. In addition, Access Persons must
direct their brokers to provide copies to the CCO or the designee of all
brokerage confirmations relating to all personal securities transactions in which
they have a beneficial ownership interest.
A copy of the Personal Securities Trading Policy is available to any client or
prospective client upon request.
We have also taken steps to ensure that teammates who manage investments
for our own corporate portfolio do not misuse confidential information about
client investments. We require that trades for the corporate portfolio be placed
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in accordance with pre-clearance guidelines that mirror those in the Personal
Securities Trading Policy. Additionally, our teammates that participate in the
investment decision and transaction must attest that the trade was not based on
material non-public information and that the trade does not conflict with the
interests of other accounts managed by us or our affiliates.
Item 12 Brokerage Practices
Fund Advice. Not applicable. We do not maintain an advisory client account
for you in connection with Fund Advice. Under our nondiscretionary Fund
Advice service, Morningstar recommends the appropriate fund-specific
investment portfolio for you, we deliver Morningstar’s recommendation to you,
and then you choose whether to implement the recommendation in your
MissionSquare Account.
funds that are
included
in the
Managed Accounts. You are not permitted to direct us to use specified brokers
in performing portfolio transactions within the Managed Accounts service. In
our role as recordkeeper for your MissionSquare Account, we batch purchase
and sale requests from participants, including advisory clients and non-clients,
for
investment portfolios Morningstar
recommends. Such transactions are completely filled for all participating
accounts on the date of the transaction. Because such orders are for funds that
are priced only once per day, the aggregation process does not have a material
effect on the quality of the execution as all orders received in good order before
4:00pm (ET) will receive the same execution price.
Item 13 Review of Accounts
Investment advice provided to you through Guided Pathways Advisory Services
is developed by Morningstar, the Independent Financial Expert. We do not
have any input into Morningstar’s recommendations and we do not review, on
an individual client basis, Morningstar’s advice or your accounts. However, we
do review the services Morningstar provides in its role as Independent Financial
Expert, including but not limited to an annual review of the asset allocation
methodology Morningstar uses to develop the investment advice.
If you are enrolled in Managed Accounts, reports outlining portfolio holdings
and account performance are provided to you quarterly. In addition, if you are
enrolled in Managed Accounts, we will periodically remind you of your ongoing
responsibility to confirm the accuracy and completeness of your personal and
financial information upon which the advice and recommendations you receive
are based. Any materials required or desired to be sent to you shall be sent to
your most recent email or physical address received by us. Our receipt of a valid
email address for you is a requirement for your participation in Fund Advice
and/or Managed Accounts. You must have the ability to read, download and
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retain documents provided to you via email or via access to our online Fund
Advice and Managed Accounts interface.
Item 14 Client Referrals and Other Compensation
We do not pay third parties for advisory client referrals. We do compensate
certain of our own employees to solicit Managed Accounts clients. Such
compensation is based on the amount of new assets enrolled in Managed
Accounts that is attributable to clients solicited by the employee. This structure
creates an incentive for our employees to recommend Managed Accounts to you
based on the compensation they will receive. We structure all endorsements and
testimonials related to our investment advisory services in accordance with
applicable laws.
Item 15 Custody
If you are enrolled in Managed Accounts, the assets in your account are
maintained in your name by VTC, the “qualified custodian” as defined in Rule
206(4)-2 under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended. VTC is one
of our wholly owned subsidiaries (see Item 10). VTC is located at 777 North
Capitol Street, NE, Washington, DC 20002. As the qualified custodian, VTC will
send account statements to you on a quarterly basis. You should carefully
compare the account statements that you receive from VTC with the quarterly
statement that you receive from us.
Item 16 Investment Discretion
Fund Advice. Fund Advice is a nondiscretionary investment advisory service.
This means that under Fund Advice Morningstar recommends the appropriate
fund-specific investment portfolio for you. We then deliver Morningstar’s
recommendation to you. You then choose whether to implement the
recommendation in your MissionSquare Account.
Managed Accounts
is a discretionary
Managed Accounts.
investment
management service. This means that we allocate eligible assets in your
MissionSquare Account in accordance with the investment portfolio Morningstar
selects and without seeking your pre-approval for each investment transaction.
Before we accept discretionary authority, we enter into an advisory contract with
you and/or the Plan Sponsor of your Retirement Plan.
Item 17 Voting Client Securities
We do not have the authority to vote securities for clients of our Guided
Pathways Advisory Services (including Managed Accounts). Individual clients
that are also shareholders will receive their proxies or other solicitations directly
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from their custodian or a transfer agent. We do not provide advice about how
you should vote your proxies.
Item 18 Financial Information
Not Applicable.
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