A New Way to 401k: Fintech Company Arnie Launches to Disrupt Retirement Savings

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Feb 21, 2023, 08:34 ET

Founded by sisters Eliza and Izabel Arnold, Arnie is set to disrupt the $32 trillion retirement savings industry

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 21, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Sisters Eliza and Izabel Arnold are redefining the retirement industry with the launch of their flagship platform Arnie.

According to the Investment Company Institute (ICI), total US retirement assets were $32.3 trillion as of September 30, 2022, down 4.5 percent from June 30, 2022. Retirement assets accounted for 30 percent of all household financial assets in the United States at the end of September 2022.

Retirement savings is a massive industry; 401ks are where most Americans hold most of their wealth. And yet, 401ks haven't changed since 1978. They've remained stagnant over the past 40 years and ended up replacing pensions entirely by accident, even though they were never designed to. 401ks are extremely archaic and restrictive, failing to keep up with the rate of innovation found in every other financial service. Which is exactly what Eliza and Izabel Arnold set out to change in the inception of Arnie.

The result is the genesis of a confounding realization by Eliza years ago that her employer- issued 401k was investing in companies she diametrically opposed (and was actively working against at her employer), and yet when she requested changes was repeatedly told no.

The two sisters, who have been starting businesses together since grade school, now find themselves at the forefront of female founders in the financial institution landscape. Arnie's modern 401ks are rebuilt from the ground up, no longer bucketing employees into generalized funds that are impersonal and uncustomizable, instead creating individualized portfolios for every employee. And they do this in an entirely novel way – by eliminating the use of mutual funds. Almost every 401k exclusively uses mutual funds, which is why they're notoriously restrictive and slow growth. Arnie's rejection of archaic mutual funds, and entirely new method of investing is transformational for the industry…and the employees who benefit from them.

Arnie's 401ks use a custom-indexing process of investing that provides the full flexibility of an individually managed portfolio, combined with the diversification you'd expect in a standard fund. Every portfolio is created uniquely for every individual, and is able to take in any number of personal inputs and is monitored with thousands of metrics aimed at reducing risk and maximizing returns.

While traditional 401ks are mutual fund-based, often rebalanced only once a year, Arnie rebalances portfolios daily to maintain the most optimal fund based on individual financial goals and preferences, and providing protection from market volatility. By building their 401ks more like a brokerage account, Arnie allows direct individual trades of stocks – examined using their fundamental factors, rather than standard categorizations – providing tax advantages and protections. The result is a 401k that gives customers unparalleled control over their portfolios, innovates and disrupts a traditional industry, and holds keys to the current retirement crisis being faced.

"The 401k is an amazing tool, and it has so much potential to help people feel really secure when they retire, it just hasn't been pushed far enough yet," shares Eliza Arnold, Co-Founder of Arnie. "It's easy to assume that because something's been done one way for so long, that's the way it should be. But usually there isn't any rule stating you can't change it, it's just that no one has questioned it yet. We decided to question it."

Contact:
Amanda Hudson
18056578674
[email protected]
https://www.arnie.co/

SOURCE Arnie