I just joined your group. Greetings to all. I found the site by surfing. I retired from Delphi in 2004. Most of my money is in the Promark Income Fund. I feel that this fund is safe. But, with all the bad economic news there is always doubt. I am looking for others to share their views on the Promark Income Fund. Any advise will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Promark Income Fund
- Thread starter cosmo96
- Start date
Ultimate Cheapskate
Recycles dryer sheets
- Joined
- Jun 16, 2008
- Messages
- 134
Welcome. Sorry, I don't know the Promark Fund, but I once dated a young lady with the same name (Promark, that is, not Fund ... even though she was a lot of Fun in her own right ;-)
Stay Cheap!
-Jeff Yeager
Stay Cheap!
-Jeff Yeager
Birdman
Confused about dryer sheets
Cosmo96,
I retired from GM in 2005 and like you, have always used the Promark Income Fund as my base for fixed income investing. With all the turmoil lately I attempted to find out more detail about the Promark Income Fund and exactly what it invests in, risk, etc. I wrote a letter to Fidelity who administers the GM 401K program and asked for more specifics than the vague information provided in the GM Savings Plan Description brochure. GM advised Fidelity all Promark Funds are institutional funds and as such, they are not required to provide any detailed information outside of what they provide in the GM Savings Plan Description. In other words, to h*ll with you and your request. I do know that A.M. Best recently downgraded ICR's of Monumental Life Insurance from stable to negative. Monumental is one of the companies that issues the wrap contracts in the fund. The other company is Pacific Life Insurance but I have not found any information on any recent downgrade for them. I believe the current yield for this quarter is 4.85% APR which is pretty high vs. the existing interest rate landscape for other fixed income instruments. As you know, higher yields and risk go hand in hand so I suspect there must be higher risk levels GM has opted not to provide any additional information on. By the way, being an institutional fund, the Promark Funds are not regulated by the SEC. I guess the choice is simple. Stay with the Promark Fund and pray that GM is handling the investments wisely or leave the GM/Delphi 401K program and go with a company that provides you with the information you need to make sound investment decisions. You might have to give up a point or so in yield but you'll probably sleep better at night.
I retired from GM in 2005 and like you, have always used the Promark Income Fund as my base for fixed income investing. With all the turmoil lately I attempted to find out more detail about the Promark Income Fund and exactly what it invests in, risk, etc. I wrote a letter to Fidelity who administers the GM 401K program and asked for more specifics than the vague information provided in the GM Savings Plan Description brochure. GM advised Fidelity all Promark Funds are institutional funds and as such, they are not required to provide any detailed information outside of what they provide in the GM Savings Plan Description. In other words, to h*ll with you and your request. I do know that A.M. Best recently downgraded ICR's of Monumental Life Insurance from stable to negative. Monumental is one of the companies that issues the wrap contracts in the fund. The other company is Pacific Life Insurance but I have not found any information on any recent downgrade for them. I believe the current yield for this quarter is 4.85% APR which is pretty high vs. the existing interest rate landscape for other fixed income instruments. As you know, higher yields and risk go hand in hand so I suspect there must be higher risk levels GM has opted not to provide any additional information on. By the way, being an institutional fund, the Promark Funds are not regulated by the SEC. I guess the choice is simple. Stay with the Promark Fund and pray that GM is handling the investments wisely or leave the GM/Delphi 401K program and go with a company that provides you with the information you need to make sound investment decisions. You might have to give up a point or so in yield but you'll probably sleep better at night.
Hello,
I retired 10/1/07 from a GM plant as a transferee from a Delphi plant, which , of course was a GM plant prior to the BIG Debaucle and as such actually have two PSP's, one from GM and one from Delphi. I have as an election in both accounts Promark Income Fund. Know what I just learned today? These , although named exactly the same in both accounts, are not the same fund, or so I was just told by a Fidelity Rep.
I only found this out when tracking gains/losses of the two accounts and found they don't mirror each other. Now, I may not be a finace wizard but I have held these funds for a few years and am surprised that this only just recently revealed itself.
I thought I was doing a reasonably decent job of watching these but never noticed any appreciable deviation between the two until just within the last couple of weeks.
I thought they were the same fund.Posted 4/3/09.
I retired 10/1/07 from a GM plant as a transferee from a Delphi plant, which , of course was a GM plant prior to the BIG Debaucle and as such actually have two PSP's, one from GM and one from Delphi. I have as an election in both accounts Promark Income Fund. Know what I just learned today? These , although named exactly the same in both accounts, are not the same fund, or so I was just told by a Fidelity Rep.
I only found this out when tracking gains/losses of the two accounts and found they don't mirror each other. Now, I may not be a finace wizard but I have held these funds for a few years and am surprised that this only just recently revealed itself.
I thought I was doing a reasonably decent job of watching these but never noticed any appreciable deviation between the two until just within the last couple of weeks.
I thought they were the same fund.Posted 4/3/09.
Birdman
Confused about dryer sheets
gmeden,
The Promark Funds are not exclusive to GM / Delphi. They do handle money for other large 401K corporation programs. Perhaps that explains why Delphi or GM would have different investments within the Promark Fund for their respective 401K programs. The whole stable value fund industry is somewhat of a mystery to me (do not confuse stable value with a value mutual fund). Stable value funds are only available through institutional funds such as Promark. In fact, there is a Stable Value Fund Assn. that oversee's institutional stable value funds. It is my understanding stable value funds by law are not available to the retail mutual fund industry which is unfortunate since they are a great instrument for the fixed income portion of your retirement portfolio. So in other words, you won't find them at Fidelity, Vanguard, TR Price, etc. In case you didn't know, you don't have to roll over your entire 401K at once. I know several people that left a significant portion of their company 401K behind just to take advantage of the stable value fund in retirement. They are quite effective in protecting principal plus paying a yield several points over the prevailing interest rates.
The Promark Funds are not exclusive to GM / Delphi. They do handle money for other large 401K corporation programs. Perhaps that explains why Delphi or GM would have different investments within the Promark Fund for their respective 401K programs. The whole stable value fund industry is somewhat of a mystery to me (do not confuse stable value with a value mutual fund). Stable value funds are only available through institutional funds such as Promark. In fact, there is a Stable Value Fund Assn. that oversee's institutional stable value funds. It is my understanding stable value funds by law are not available to the retail mutual fund industry which is unfortunate since they are a great instrument for the fixed income portion of your retirement portfolio. So in other words, you won't find them at Fidelity, Vanguard, TR Price, etc. In case you didn't know, you don't have to roll over your entire 401K at once. I know several people that left a significant portion of their company 401K behind just to take advantage of the stable value fund in retirement. They are quite effective in protecting principal plus paying a yield several points over the prevailing interest rates.
jazz4cash
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
I am also ex-GM and maintain my 401k plan through Fidelity. I have always used Promark Income for cash allocation in the 401k and it is one of the main reasons I have not rolled out of the GM 401k. It has payed close to 5% for as long as I can remember, and I always assumed it was a bit riskier than the alternatives (even in "normal" times). The other Promark funds have generally been very good also as far as maintaining lower ERs than the benchmark indices. Unfortunately the lack of transparency and reduction of regulatory filings is part of the lower ER. I am cautious about advise from the Fidelity reps ...especially with regard to non-Fidelity funds. I always try to check things out for myself via the plan's Summary Plan Description. I can't tell you how many times I've heard "wow....your plan DOES permit x,y or z" from a novice Fidelity Rep.
Mainstay Capital has been around for a long time with a focus on 401k plans from the automotive sector. Awhile back, they sent me free newsletters which they requested I circulate among my peers......I have to say I never dug into the details of the advice.
Mainstay Capital Management LLC
Mainstay Capital has been around for a long time with a focus on 401k plans from the automotive sector. Awhile back, they sent me free newsletters which they requested I circulate among my peers......I have to say I never dug into the details of the advice.
Mainstay Capital Management LLC
