What You Get Besides 401(k) Ratings
What Is BrightScope?
BrightScope is a monetary data firm that primarily helps retirement market-focused asset managers determine, goal, and retain purchasers. It’s best identified for its 401(okay) ranking system and skill to transform floods of knowledge into simplified, actionable intelligence for paying subscribers.
Key Takeaways
- BrightScope is a monetary data firm greatest identified for its 401(okay) ranking system.
- The corporate was based in 2008 and began out with a mission to enhance the transparency of employer retirement plans.
- A number of years, acquisitions, and managerial adjustments later, it now primarily helps retirement market-focused asset managers determine, goal, and retain purchasers.
- After Institutional Shareholder Providers Inc. (ISS) acquired Strategic Perception, BrightScope’s providers had been lumped collectively as a part of the Beacon enterprise product suite, which is offered to paying subscribers solely.
Understanding BrightScope
BrightScope has pivoted its enterprise considerably over the previous few years. Following a sequence of possession adjustments, the corporate’s priorities switched from supplying the general public with unbiased analysis on their office retirement plans, monetary advisors, and mutual funds to primarily serving to asset managers leverage their knowledge as a way to drive extra focused and efficient distribution efforts.
Early Beginnings
BrightScope was created within the late 2000s to make it simpler for individuals to higher perceive their 401(okay)s. Its three co-founders, Dan Weeks and brothers Mike and Ryan Alfred, acknowledged from private expertise how onerous it was to find out the standard of an organization’s retirement financial savings plan and vowed to finish these struggles by constructing a database that may give every 401(okay) a ranking primarily based on issues like charges and match.
After elevating some cash from angel buyers and heading to Washington, D.C., to extract firm 401(okay) plan filings from the U.S. Division of Labor, the three started working constructing their invention. They gave as many 401(okay)s as they might analyze a numerical rating primarily based on lots of of particular person knowledge factors, together with the plan’s complete value, firm generosity, and the variety of funding selections out there, and made their creation free for the general public to entry.
The Alfred brothers—recent from beforehand working an funding advisory enterprise—and Weeks adopted this up by creating the primary complete and publicly out there on-line listing of economic advisors. As with the 401(okay) rankings, the purpose was to assist individuals discover the very best monetary options whereas making some cash from the oldsters on the opposite aspect of the fence.
BrightScope charged a charge to advisors who needed to face out within the listing and look into who checked out their profile. Different income streams got here from Spyglass, a 401(okay) database utilized by retirement plan consultants and advisors to assist smaller employers optimize their retirement choices, and Beacon, which specialised in giving asset administration firms knowledge on which employer retirement plans personal their funds and which employers personal competitor funds that haven’t been performing nicely.
BrightScope initially charged advisors to entry and add particulars to their profiles, however it was compelled to reverse this coverage after receiving a number of complaints.
Previous BrightScope vs. New BrightScope
A sequence of acquisitions regularly led to a shift in BrightScope’s enterprise mannequin and priorities.
In 2016, the corporate was acquired by New York-based Strategic Perception for someplace reportedly within the area of $35 million to $40 million. Then, throughout the area of three years, the Alfred brothers—who, between them, successfully ran BrightScope—left to pursue new ventures. Strategic Perception was acquired by proxy advisor Institutional Shareholder Providers Inc. (ISS).
Mike and Ryan Alfred arrange Digital Belongings Knowledge, a knowledge platform for cryptocurrency belongings, after leaving BrightScope.
Underneath the stewardship of its new proprietor, the free stuff began to fade. BrightScope’s providers had been lumped collectively as a part of the Beacon enterprise product suite, which was made out there to paying subscribers solely. In different phrases, BrightScope’s outlined contribution retirement plan database and monetary advisor listing had been now not free to entry.
As is usually the case when startups broaden and new buyers come on board, BrightScope was compelled to rethink its priorities. A necessity to make more cash noticed the corporate swap from making an attempt to assist most of the people maximize their retirement financial savings to primarily catering to the wants of the individuals sitting on the opposite aspect of the desk with deeper pockets.
There are actually different web sites that assist staff analyze firm 401(okay) plans, together with one referred to as Beagle.
Who got here up with the concept for BrightScope?
In response to an article from The New York Instances, the concept originated with Dan Weeks. Weeks was reportedly struggling to know his 401(okay) plan whereas working as an engineering supervisor at Hewlett Packard. He got here up with a instrument to higher set up his threat tolerance and fund selections, after which confirmed it to his actual property lawyer, who occurred to be the daddy of the entrepreneurial-minded Alfred brothers.
What is an efficient price of return on a 401(okay)?
Who owns BrightScope?
BrightScope has been owned by Institutional Shareholder Providers Inc. (ISS) since 2019 and varieties a part of its market intelligence division.
The Backside Line
Since 2016, when it was acquired by Strategic Perception, BrightScope moved from being a free data service with databases that allowed shoppers to match 401(okay) plans and discover monetary advisors to a paid service designed to assist retirement market-focused asset managers determine, goal, and retain purchasers. It’s now owned by Institutional Shareholder Providers (ISS).
