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Guardian Retirement Solutions™ Joins Morgan Stanley's Retirement PlatformNEW YORK --(Business Wire)-- The Guardian Insurance & Annuity Company, Inc. (GIAC), a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America (Guardian), today announced that Morgan Stanley, which operates the industry's largest wirehouse retirement platform, has included The Guardian Advantage® and The Guardian Choice® funding vehicles in its suite of retirement products. In addition to joining Morgan Stanley's sales platform, Guardian has also been selected to participate in Morgan Stanley's Sales & Training Provider Program. "We are extremely excited that a market leader such as Morgan Stanley is providing Guardian retirement products through its national distribution network," said Michael B. Cefole, Senior Vice President of Guardian Retirement Solutions™. "Ninety percent of all plans in the 401(k) industry are in the small-plan market and a recent Guardian survey uncovered that 65% of financial professionals polled believe there is a large opportunity in this space. The Morgan Stanley platform allows Guardian to significantly extend our reach in this segment, which continues to be considerably underserved and holds vast prospects." The expansion into Morgan Stanley caps off a year of significant enhancements to Guardian's product, service, and sales platform. Highlights include broadening the investment options available, increasing the national sales team, earning the J.D. Power Call Center Certification SM award for the third consecutive year, launching a national series of educational seminars for financial professionals, and developing an enhanced enrollment magazine. Cefole continued: "Joining forces with Morgan Stanley provides accessibility to our full scope of retirement solutions to small-plan sponsors across the nation. We continue to extend our reach across the RIA, broker-dealer and benefit broker segments to solidify our position as the country's go-to provider of group retirement products in the micro- to small-plan market." Guardian also launched a new website - 401k.GuardianLife.com - that provides participants with a variety of educational tools to help them better understand their own investing styles and information about how to maximize their retirement planning. About Guardian A mutual insurer founded in 1860, The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America and its subsidiaries are committed to protecting individuals, business owners and their employees with life, disability income and dental insurance products, and offer funding vehicles for 401(k) plans, annuities and other financial products. Guardian operates one of the largest dental networks in the United States, and protects more than six million employees and their families at 115,000 companies. The company has approximately 5,000 employees in the United States and a network of over 3,000 financial representatives in more than 80 agencies nationwide. For more information about Guardian, please visit www.GuardianLife.com. The Guardian Choice® group variable funding agreement and The Guardian Advantage® group variable annuity contract are issued by The Guardian Insurance & Annuity Company, Inc. (GIAC), a Delaware corporation whose principal place of business is 7 Hanover Square, New York, NY, 10004. GIAC is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America (Guardian), New York, NY. Guardian does not issue Individual annuities, group variable funding agreements and group variable annuity contracts and does not guarantee the benefits they provide. Guardian Retirement Solutions™ refers to the administrative support services, including participant recordkeeping as well as marketing, enrollment and educational materials, provided by GIAC in conjunction with the individual and group retirement products issued by GIAC.
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