Voya Investment Management Launches Retirement University for Advisors™

NEW YORK, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Voya Investment Management, the asset management business of Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE: VOYA), today announced the launch of Retirement University for Advisors™, an innovative professional development and practice management program for financial advisors who serve both personal and/or defined contribution clients.  

More details on the program can be found here.

Rooted in Voya Financial's mission to be America's Retirement Company™,  "Retirement U" brings together resources to assist advisors looking to expand the retirement-focused guidance that their clients are seeking.  In conjunction with the launch of "Retirement U," Voya announced last month that Joseph M. Labella, CAIA, CIMA®, had been named Retirement Strategist.  This new position was created in response to the growing needs faced by financial advisors to help them better address their clients' retirement planning issues.

"We recognize that retirement is foundational to an advisors' practice. With Retirement U, we believe that advisors will be able to add demonstrable value in the retirement process and differentiate themselves from their competition," said Jake Tuzza, managing director and head of intermediary distribution.  "Advisors working with personal retirement clients have specific challenges, not the least of which includes managing their practices while also trying to help clients get ready to retire. 'Retirement U' addresses these specific concerns and needs in the most practical, most-consumable way possible."

"Retirement U" brings together  practice management and professional development for advisors through a dedicated web experience – including interactive learning modules – and other resources, such as live seminars  that provide CE credits.

At the heart of "Retirement U" is a featured course called "Tap into the Power of Consistency," which provides advisors access to Voya Investment Management's unique Consistency Lens™ methodology.

The Consistency Lens™ is based on proprietary research, whereby the firm has identified six returns-based factors that can help advisors evaluate funds for consistency.  Unlike most fund evaluation methods, Voya's product-agnostic analysis uses rolling, three-year periods.  The analysis is then tailored to help advisors identify funds that are appropriate for clients at different life stages. 

"As typically applied, traditional evaluations give you a snapshot view of performance at a particular point in time.  They can't tell you if a fund manager's success is due to skill or luck, or how a fund behaves when markets are in flux," said Tuzza.  "Our Consistency Lens™ was designed to help address this problem and help advisors focus on specific client needs depending on where that client is in his or her stage of planning for retirement."

"Retirement U" also offers advisors expert guidance on the best ways to help clients engage in consistent, positive actions.  For example, part of the "Tap into the Power of Consistency" course provides advisors with tips and strategies to help their clients avoid the emotional triggers that may sabotoge their long-term investment success, such as potentially overreacting to normal market fluctuations.

"Retirement U is built to be a comprehensive resource for advisors looking to demonstrate their value in new ways," said Elizabeth Petrozzini, Retirement Advisory Marketing.  "'Retirement U' will evolve and grow to ensure Voya Investment Management is  constantly helping advisors tackle their biggest challenges when working with both personal retirement and DC clients."

Media Contact:
Kristopher Kagel(212) 309-6568                                                              
[email protected]    

About Voya Investment Management
A leading, active asset management firm, Voya Investment Management manages, as of June 30, 2016, more than $203 billion for affiliated and external institutions as well as individual investors. With 40 years of history in asset management, Voya Investment Management has the experience and resources to provide clients with investment solutions with an emphasis on equities, fixed income, and multi-asset strategies and solutions. For more information, visit voyainvestments.com. Follow Voya Investment Management on Twitter @VoyaFA.

About Voya Financial^®
Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE: VOYA), helps Americans plan, invest and protect their savings — to get ready to retire better. Serving the financial needs of approximately 13 million individual and institutional customers in the United States, Voya is a Fortune 500 company that had $11 billion in revenue in 2015. The company had $466 billion in total assets under management and administration as of June 30, 2016. With a clear mission to make a secure financial future possible — one person, one family, one institution at a time — Voya's vision is to be America's Retirement Company™. The company is equally committed to conducting business in a way that is socially, environmentally, economically and ethically responsible — Voya has been recognized as one of the 2016 World's Most Ethical Companies^® by the Ethisphere Institute, and as one of the Top Green Companies in the U.S., by Newsweek magazine. For more information, visit voya.com. Follow Voya Financial on Facebook and Twitter @Voya.

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SOURCE Voya Investment Management