Stadion Money Management, a money management firm known for its defensively-oriented philosophy and strategies using ETFs, announced that Nationwide has made Stadion’s StoryLine small business 401(k) solution available on its platform.

StoryLine, built with SPDR ETFs, has been designed specifically to address the needs of 401(k) participants in advisor-sold, small market plans. The solution presents a new level of customization for small plan participants, which Stadion sees as a discernable improvement over “one size fits all” target date strategies.

“At the core of Nationwide’s mission is the drive and desire to give every working American the tools and resources they need to help reach their retirement goals,” said Joe Frustaglio, vice president of retirement plan sales for Nationwide. “What makes StoryLine so appealing is its singular focus on small-plan participants, who often lack the same personalized planning opportunities provided to participants in larger plans.”

StoryLine’s innovative approach recognizes every plan sponsor and employee as unique. The StoryLine process first seeks insight into the overall plan make-up with the intent of tailoring default options for each individual company. Then, with Stadion’s participant-centric web interface, employees will be encouraged to further define their individual investment paths based on personal risk profiles, expectations, and goals. StoryLine will also allow – at the employee’s discretion – the inclusion of outside and spousal assets to facilitate more comprehensive retirement planning. The end goal of this is to have each participant on a path personalized to their own circumstances and needs.

For Nationwide’s financial advisors, the ‘halo’ benefit of StoryLine are the tools available to help deepen their relationships with sponsors and participants as they engage them at the plan level with tailored solutions. In turn, sponsors are then able to offer their employees access to individual personalized planning that goes beyond typical age- and risk-based investment strategies.

“Nationwide has been a valued partner to Stadion for many years and we’re delighted they elected to make StoryLine available on their platform,” said Tim McCabe, Senior Vice President and National Retirement Sales Director at Stadion. “Nationwide understands that no two plans or participants are exactly alike and offers a breadth of asset management solutions to enable complete customization. Every participant, regardless of plan size, deserves help determining where they want to go, and what they must do to get there.”