Real Estate & 401(k) Plans: Investment Menu Diversification or Fiduciary Dilemma

401(k) Fridays Podcast

As the most recent bull market continues to mature, some retirement plan sponsors are either exploring or being encouraged to explore ways add diversification to their workplace retirement plan investment menus. Incorporating exposure to Real Estate or REITS, has been one of the more popular strategies to add some variety to traditional stock and bond offerings. While the REITs are offered in 31% of plans up from 27% five years ago according to Vanguard’s How America Saves reports, personally I would not consider them widely available in workplace retirement plans. Whether you already have a REIT offering or are considering adding one, my conversation today with Jake Aronson, a CFA and Portfolio Manager with Principal Portfolio Strategies should shed some light on this anything but straightforward topic. Like we always do, we start with defining terms, address some common misperceptions and offer input for retirement plan fiduciaries to help frame decisions. Hopefully, our conversation will help you get familiar with REITs to help you determine if it is an appropriate way to add diversity to your investment menu at your next retirement committee meeting.

Guest Bio

Jake is a Portfolio Manager for Principal Portfolio Strategies, a specialized boutique that engages in the creation of asset allocation solutions. In this role, he is responsible for conducting research, assessing risk, and making relative value recommendations relating to specific aspects of the Dynamic Outcome strategies. Jake is a member of the Investment Oversight and Risk Committee and has over 22 years of industry experience. Before joining Principal®, he was a Managing Director with Miles Capital, a boutique institutional asset manager. Prior to joining Miles Capital, Jake served in various capacities with Principal Global Investors and Principal Real Estate Investors. While at Principal®, he has worked with both retail and institutional strategies and clients. Prior to joining Principal®, Jake worked as a Credit/Business Analyst with various firms as well as a Bank Examiner with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Jake has earned the right to use the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation and has passed the CPA exam. He has also earned the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst designation.

401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview

Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your workplace retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over eighty prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!