T. Rowe brings fund tools to the Internet

T. Rowe brings fund tools to the Internet T. Rowe Price has unveiled a web portal with tools that advisers and other firms can use to evaluate the asset manager’s mutual funds. “Our research indicates that our clients value having easy access to in-depth mutual fund data that they can tailor for their own analyses," Bill Weker, vice president of marketing-web strategy and development in third-party distribution at T. Rowe Price Group Inc. of Baltimore, said in a statement. The fund data portal provides a comprehensive, one-stop snapshot of mutual fund data “so intermediaries can better manage their investments," he said. In addition to advisers, broker-dealers, clearing firms, banks and record keepers can rely on the portal to gather information and create reports. For instance, advisers can ascertain the top 10 securities that contributed to, or detracted from, performance. Portfolio characteristics and other fund data are available online at troweprice.com/fdp. Time for a Roth IRA conversion boom? Convergent Retirement Plan Solutions and Archimedes Systems have developed a Roth IRA conversion optimizer. The tool enables an adviser to determine the optimal conversion amount based on the investor’s income needs and objectives. Individual retirement accounts and other employee pension plans can be converted to Roth IRAs. “As of Jan 1, 2010, more than 13 million affluent households representing [more than] $1.4 trillion in retirement assets will become eligible to take advantage of the Roth IRA conversion opportunity,” Ben Norquist, president of Convergent Retirement Plan Solutions LLC of Brainerd, Minn., said in a statement. “Advisers who are positioned to perform sound Roth IRA conversion analyses will have a distinct advantage in the marketplace,” he said. Archimedes Systems Inc. is located in of Waltham, Mass. Davis D. Janowski is on vacation.