Non-Retirement Investments FAQs

How can I use Horizon™ to improve my non-employer plan investments?

Here is all you need to do:

  • Open an account (if you do not already have one) with any of the mutual fund companies that are currently supported with Horizon™.
    NOTE: If a mutual company you want to invest with is not yet listed, please let us know as we are always adding support for new entities
  • Decide what portion of your investments you want to manage with Horizon.
  • Transfer that money directly into the money market fund of your chosen mutual fund company.
  • Contact us when your account has been opened, let us know which company you have chosen and we will send you instructions on how to subscribe.

Then, just as you do now with your retirement plan, you will receive a Horizon Action Report every five weeks. You may implement any desired reallocations using the mutual fund company's web site and our Reallocation Process.

Best of all…if you are a current subscriber, you are entitled to a 50% discount on each additional Horizon subscription for your first three years—an up to $1,080 savings!



Can I use Horizon™ with my mutual and exchange traded fund investments at a third-party broker (e.g., Schwab)?

The answer depends on the characteristics of your current brokerage account. There are 3 fundamental concerns that must be addressed when using Horizon™ (or any active management approach) to rebalance a portfolio of mutual funds at a brokerage firm (e.g., Schwab, Ameritrade, etc.).

  • More complicated rebalance process. Brokerages typically do not offer fund exchange capabilities. Therefore, to rebalance your account across the mutual funds in your account you must manually enter each buy and sell transaction. Most mutual fund companies offer some form of an exchange feature.
  • Timing of exchanges. Since you do not have fund exchange capabilities, each SELL transaction that is part of your rebalancing must first be submitted to your brokerage and then cleared by the mutual fund company (i.e., the proceeds from the sale need to be available to you in your brokerage account) before you can use those proceeds to enter the corresponding rebalance BUY transactions. Depending on the brokerage this could add 1-2 days to the rebalancing process. When working with a mutual fund company you are exchanging within the same family of funds so there is no time delay.
  • Increased Cost. You may have to pay transaction fees to your broker for each buy and sell transaction needed to rebalance your account. For example: To rebalance from one fund into 5 other funds requires a total of six (1 buy and 5 sell) transactions). To rebalance from 5 funds into 5 different funds may require as many as 25 transactions! Obviously if you are paying for each one, your gains will be reduced. There are no fees when making exchanges directly with the mutual fund company.

The bottom-line is this: Following a disciplined, active approach of rebalancing a portfolio of mutual funds held at a brokerage firm may result in more time spent and more money out of your pocket – neither of which are desirable or sustainable by the average individual.

Here is all you need to do to get started using Horizon at a mutual fund company:

  • Open an account (if you do not already have one) with any of the mutual fund companies that are currently supported with Horizon™.  

    NOTE: If a mutual company you want to invest with is not yet listed, please let us know as we are always adding support for new entities
  • Decide what portion of your non-retirement investments you want to manage with Horizon.

  • Transfer that money directly into any unrestricted money market or stable value fund at your chosen mutual fund company.

  • Contact us when your account has been opened, let us know which company you have chosen and we will send you instructions on how to subscribe.

Best of all…if you are a current subscriber, you are entitled to a 50% discount on each additional Horizon subscription for your first three years—an up to $1,080 savings!

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