Defined Contribution
Designing Defined Contribution Solutions around Retirement Income
We help plan sponsors apply fixed income management, cash flow analysis and stable value expertise to capital-preservation and retirement income needs within defined contribution plans.
Portfolio Fit
Support the Transition from Accumulation to Income
Our solutions are designed around the specific circumstances and unique needs of each client and their plan participants, with particular attention to participants approaching or entering retirement, for whom principal preservation and consistent returns can be critical considerations. Depending on the plan’s objectives, our capabilities may serve as a stable value option, support an income-oriented allocation or contribute to the design of a target date or other default investment structure. We support plan sponsors in building and delivering income solutions and frequently assume a coordinator role across investment management, wrap agreements, recordkeeping and outside managers.
Our defined contribution capabilities include:
Stable Value
Managing wrapped fixed income portfolios, including structuring, negotiating and administering stable value wrap agreements designed to help stabilize account volatility.
Retirement Income Design
Applying fixed income and cash flow expertise to the design of income-oriented solutions within target date structures or standalone plan offerings.
Wrap Agreement Management
Evaluating provider capacity, diversification, fees and contract terms and aligning them with the underlying investment strategy, including bank and insurance wrap contracts.
Plan Coordination
Connecting portfolio management, wrap administration, recordkeeping, custody and outside managers as plan needs or market conditions change.
Fixed Income
Managing against a published index in a risk-controlled active management style with tight tracking error and high information ratio targets.
Defined Contribution Perspectives
Why NISA
Our Distinguished Approach
We partner with clients to build tailored solutions in pursuit of unique goals. Our style seeks consistent outcomes with high-quality, risk-adjusted returns.
Authentic Alpha
Actively managing specialized strategies across asset classes and markets, emphasizing diversification and proven processes that strive to deliver consistently high information ratios.
Beta Optimization
Capturing targeted market exposures efficiently, minimizing uncompensated risks and identifying opportunities created by structural gaps in market conditions.
Strategic Partnership
Cultivating enduring partnerships that reflect a deep understanding of client objectives with portfolios designed to deliver strategic outcomes.
Partner With NISA
Discuss Your Portfolio Objectives with Us
Portfolio losses are realized with the assumption that the client will use these losses to offset gains. To the extent the client does not have gains available to offset in the current period, the value of the tax benefit of such losses will be less than reported.
Interest rate risk includes duration differences between the portfolio and liability-based benchmark. Spread or yield curve risk is the difference between performance of the portfolio and the liability-based benchmark associated with changes in credit spreads or the shape of the yield curve. Operational risk includes the calculation and execution of trades required to maintain an LDI hedging objective and requires the coordination of various groups within NISA, as well as external parties including brokers, custodians and potentially other asset managers. There could be a risk associated with incorporating data from various external sources.
Misestimation of the liability’s sensitivity to interest rates, changes to liability valuation assumptions, or differences between assumptions and experience represents potential actuarial risk.