New York, NY Office

MissionSquare Retirement serves state and local government employers, their employees, and certain non‑profit entities by administering deferred compensation and qualified retirement plans and providing plan administration, recordkeeping, education, and Guided Pathways Advisory Services for participants and IRAs held at MissionSquare. Guided Pathways includes discretionary Managed Accounts and nondiscretionary Fund Advice and is delivered via online, mail, telephone and in‑person channels only within MissionSquare‑administered accounts.

Investment advice and model portfolios for Guided Pathways are developed by Morningstar Investment Management, which serves as the Independent Financial Expert and uses asset‑class allocation models, quantitative and qualitative fund selection, Monte Carlo simulations and a “total wealth” approach; advice is personalized based on client personal and financial information and certain Morningstar assumptions, with an optional risk questionnaire that adjusts target equity allocations. Managed Accounts are discretionary and typically rebalanced quarterly to align with Morningstar’s model portfolios, while Fund Advice is point‑in‑time and does not include ongoing account monitoring by MissionSquare.

The firm’s scale and structure are notable: MissionSquare administers Guided Pathways for more than 40,000 participants supported by a multi‑team advisory structure, and it operates an integrated set of affiliates — VantageTrust Company serves as the qualified custodian and trustee for its collective trust (MSQ) funds, while MissionSquare Investments and MissionSquare Wealth Management provide in‑house advisory and brokerage functions. MissionSquare relies on asset‑based advisory and administrative fees rather than fixed fees, does not offer standalone financial planning within Guided Pathways, and maintains a strategic partner and recordkeeping program (including Morningstar as the IFE) with documented oversight and disclosures to address related conflicts of interest.