OneAmerica® Introduces Index(k)®; Selects Wilmington Trust and BlackRock as Index Managers of Choice

INDIANAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The companies of OneAmerica today announced the launch of Index(k), a new approach to retirement plan construction focused on indexed investing. Index(k) was developed in response to the changing needs of the defined contribution retirement plan industry – including an increased focus on management fees, total investment expenses and transparency.

“Across the retirement plan spectrum, from advisor to plan sponsor to participant, value has emerged as the biggest need, and the relative security of an index allows value in other aspects of a retirement plan to be pursued.”

Index(k) will offer plan sponsors a menu comprised of 18 collective trust investment options offered through Wilmington Trust Retirement and Institutional Services Company and managed by BlackRock. These options include nine of BlackRock’s LifePath^® target date investment options, as well as the stable value investment option of the American United Life Insurance Company^® (AUL), a OneAmerica company. Index(k) will be uniquely combined with AUL’s service model that supports advisors, plan sponsors and, ultimately, plan participants in all aspects of preparing for a secure retirement through customized communications, education and local personal service.

“Index(k) will appeal to the growing number of advisors and retirement plan sponsors who place a greater emphasis on plan health and participant education,” said Bill Yoerger, president of retirement business for the OneAmerica companies. “Index(k) will be attractive to advisors who are realizing the value in adding indexing to a portfolio.”

An index fund is designed to match the index it is based on – such as benchmarks by S&P, Russell or MSCI – and will generally return an investment performance similar to the index. This allows advisors and plan sponsors to focus and spend less time on investment performance, manager selection and ongoing evaluation.

“BlackRock is proud to be working with Wilmington Trust and OneAmerica as index manager of choice for Index(k),” said Greg Porteous, head of defined contribution intermediary relationships at BlackRock. “OneAmerica’s launch of Index(k) further reinforces the importance of transparent, low cost approaches to managing an investment lineup.”

The companies of OneAmerica will work alongside Wilmington Trust and BlackRock to position Index(k) as an investment fund strategy option for small and mid-sized plans.

“For plan participants, success in retirement may look the same as it has for years, but the path to get there may have changed,” said Yoerger. “Across the retirement plan spectrum, from advisor to plan sponsor to participant, value has emerged as the biggest need, and the relative security of an index allows value in other aspects of a retirement plan to be pursued.”

About OneAmerica
OneAmerica Financial Partners, Inc. (www.oneamerica.com), headquartered in Indianapolis, Ind., has companies that can trace their solid foundations back more than 135 years in the insurance and financial services marketplace.

OneAmerica’s nationwide network of companies offers a variety of products to serve the financial needs of their policyholders and other clients. These products include retirement plan products and services; individual life insurance, annuities, long-term care solutions and employee benefit plan products. The goal of OneAmerica is to blend the strengths of each company to achieve greater collective results.

The products of the OneAmerica companies are distributed through a network of employees, agents, brokers and other distribution sources that are committed to increasing value to our policyholders by helping them prepare to meet their financial goals.

Follow OneAmerica on Twitter at @OneAmericaNews.

All group variable annuity contracts are issued by American United Life Insurance Company^® (AUL), One American Square, P.O. Box 368, Indianapolis, IN 46206-0368, 1-800-249-6269. Registered group variable annuity contracts are distributed by OneAmerica Securities, Inc., Member FINRA, SIPC, a Registered Investment Advisor, 433 N. Capitol Ave., Indianapolis, IN 46204, 1-877-285-3863, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of AUL.

The underlying funds discussed here are only available as investment options in variable annuity contracts and variable life insurance policies issued by life insurance companies. They are not offered or made available directly to the general public. These portfolios contain different investments than similarly named mutual funds offered by the money manager. Investment results may be in higher or lower than those of the similarly named funds.

Market indices have been provided for comparison purposes only; they are unmanaged and no fees or expenses have been reflected. Individuals cannot invest directly in an index.