CI First Look – Eaton Vance

by on Feb 20, 2013

VW-3D_4C_SWe are pleased to announce this month the newest addition to the Advisor Monitor coverage group: Eaton Vance. Formed by a 1979 merger of companies with histories stretching back to 1924, Eaton Vance has grown to hold $238.4 billion in assets under management, with over 1,100 employees working for the firm. The Boston-based asset management company’s site offers numerous unique features, and will be a strong addition to our Updates, Reports, Matrices and Videos.

Innovative Website Features
One of the most noteworthy features of Eaton Vance’s advisor site is the Portfolio Fit tool. Eaton Vance assigns each of its funds one or more investment goal categories, such as All Weather, Portfolio Diversification and Inflation Protection. The Portfolio Fit tool offers a matrix of firm’s fund products with icons for each investing goal labeled across the x-axis. Users can click a particular icon to filter according to investing goal. Eaton Vance does a good job of incorporating the Portfolio Fit categories into the rest of the site, with investing goal icons affixed to the top of fund product pages and fact sheets.


Eaton Vance

Excellent Business Building Insights
The firm also excels at practice management resources. The site’s Eaton Vance Advisor Institute helps advisors improve existing business relationships and attract new clients, and advisor practices can arrange for presentations, workshops and webinars from Eaton Vance thought leaders on related topics. The section consists of an introductory overview and six pages: Getting Started, Coach’s Corner, Conversation Corner, Nurturing Relationships, Inspiring Conviction and Attracting Clients. Materials are authored by the National Director of Eaton Vance’s Advisor Institute, David Richman, as well as guest co-authors and industry experts. Resources provided in the section do a good job at analyzing business building opportunities and providing practical suggestions for ways to strengthen client relationships.


Eaton Vance Advisor Institute

Closing Thoughts

Eaton Vance offers numerous innovative and useful site features, which position the firm strongly within the asset management sphere. While firms like AllianceBernstein also offer the ability to filter products by investment goal, none offer capabilities as well designed or integrated as Eaton Vance’s Portfolio Fit. Additionally, while a majority of firms offer practice management resources, Eaton Vance’s quality materials put them in the company of top Advisor Monitor firms, such as BlackRock, American Funds and Lord Abbett. Due to the presence of such quality features, Eaton Vance is likely to be a top performer in our monthly reports and may push the envelope forward for asset management firms.