Wells Fargo Institutional Retirement and Trust Adds New Investment Strategy to Target My Retirement^® Solution for 401(k) Plan Participants

CHARLOTTE – Wells Fargo Institutional Retirement and Trust announces the newest iteration of its Target My Retirement^® solution, providing 401(k) plan participants access to a personalized investment solution to help them achieve their retirement income goals.

Target My Retirement now offers an internally managed, factor-based index collective fund array charging lower fees and has the potential for greater risk-adjusted returns — while also maintaining the essence of the product design to create a personalized glide path based on the participant’s individual situation.

The underlying factor-based collective funds were created by Wells Fargo Asset Management. Morningstar Investment Management LLC — a registered investment adviser and subsidiary of Morningstar, Inc., retained by Wells Fargo as an independent financial expert to provide advice in connection with Target My Retirement — created the participant investment strategies.

“We continue to believe that the future of retirement planning — and the probability of a successful outcome — comes down to moving away from ‘one size fits all’ approaches and drawing on more personalized solutions,” said Joe Ready, head of Wells Fargo Institutional Retirement and Trust. “This version of Target My Retirement builds on this belief by combining the investment strength of Wells Fargo Asset Management with the allocation expertise of Morningstar Investment Management to deliver what we see as a compelling option for plan sponsors.”

Target My Retirement has been regularly updated since it first launched in 2003. This latest iteration offers a new collective fund lineup and pricing, while staying true to the hallmark of the product — personalization that goes beyond a target retirement date to include current financial and demographic information along with future expense outlays.

“We know people want two things as they embark on the journey to save for retirement: They want as much help as they can get, ideally personalized, to work toward a successful outcome; and they want to achieve this in the most cost efficient manner. Our industry must continue to keep these objectives in mind,” said Fredrik Axsater, head of Strategic Business Segments at Wells Fargo Asset Management.

Like previous versions of Target My Retirement, the latest iteration can be used as a plan’s qualified default investment alternative, delivering an evolution in the underlying investment strategy of the product at a cost of 24 basis points (bps; 100 bps equal 1.00%), including both the product administration and investment fund expenses.

Features of the enhanced Target My Retirement solution include:

• Hundreds of portfolio possibilities. The investment product offers close to 600 possible portfolios, nearly 60 times more than standard target-date strategies. As with the existing versions of Target My Retirement, personalization happens automatically, using standard data collected through recordkeeping and payroll processes.
• Personalization beyond target retirement date. The enhanced version offers high personalization to include factors that may inform the portfolio strategy, including a customized retirement date, integration of outside assets, an estimate of Social Security benefits and other attributes that tailor the asset allocation to the individual participant.
• Factor-based investment options. The investment options, from Wells Fargo Asset Management, include enhanced index investing strategies considered more sophisticated than standard market-based indexes used by some target-date products.
• A process focused on controlling risk and return drivers. Wells Fargo Asset Management uses in-depth research and analysis to understand and better control the factors that drive portfolio risk and return. With an understanding of how factors such as value, quality, size and momentum have historically created risk and return in the financial markets, the collective funds’ portfolios are built with the goal of achieving improved outcomes over time.

About Wells Fargo Institutional Retirement and Trust

Wells Fargo Institutional Retirement and Trust is a national leader in providing total retirement management, investments and trust and custody solutions tailored to meet the needs of institutional clients. Wells Fargo Institutional Retirement and Trust ranks 7th in the number of plan assets in the 2017 PLANSPONSOR Magazine Recordkeeping survey, and provides retirement plan services to 4 million participants representing $329.8 billion in retirement plan assets (as of 12/31/16).

About Wells Fargo Asset Management

Wells Fargo Asset Management, a division of Wells Fargo Wealth and Investment Management, strives to help clients achieve their financial goals through investment options managed by specialized investment teams that are supported by independent risk management and backed by superior, collaborative service. With more than $494 billion in assets under management,* Wells Fargo Asset Management has 29 autonomous investment teams with specialized expertise and proven processes; more than 500 investment professionals; and a global reach with offices and clients around the world.

*As of 6/30/18

About Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) is a diversified, community-based financial services company with $1.9 trillion in assets. Wells Fargo’s vision is to satisfy our customers’ financial needs and help them succeed financially. Founded in 1852 and headquartered in San Francisco, Wells Fargo provides banking, investment and mortgage products and services, as well as consumer and commercial finance, through 8,050 locations, 13,000 ATMs, the internet (wellsfargo.com) and mobile banking, and has offices in 38 countries and territories to support customers who conduct business in the global economy. With approximately 265,000 team members, Wells Fargo serves one in three households in the United States. Wells Fargo & Company was ranked No. 26 on Fortune’s 2018 rankings of America’s largest corporations. News, insights and perspectives from Wells Fargo are also available at Wells Fargo Stories.

All investing involves risk, including possible loss of principal.

Wells Fargo Institutional Retirement & Trust is a business unit of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., a bank affiliate of Wells Fargo & Company. This information and any information provided by employees and representatives of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. and its affiliates is intended to constitute investment education under U.S. Department of Labor guidance and does not constitute “investment advice” under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974. Neither Wells Fargo nor any of its affiliates, including employees, and representatives, may provide “investment advice” to any participant or beneficiary regarding the investment of assets in your employer-sponsored retirement plan. Please contact an investment, financial, tax, or legal advisor regarding your specific situation. The information shown is not intended to provide any suggestion that you engage in or refrain from taking a particular course of action.

This material is for general informational and educational purposes only and is NOT intended to provide investment advice or a recommendation of any kind—including a recommendation for any specific investment, strategy, or plan.

Wells Fargo Asset Management (WFAM) is the trade name for certain investment advisory/management firms owned by Wells Fargo & Company. These firms include but are not limited to Wells Capital Management

Incorporated and Wells Fargo Funds Management, LLC. Certain products managed by WFAM entities are distributed by Wells Fargo Funds Distributor, LLC (a broker/dealer and Member FINRA).

WFAM 311292 08-18

CAR-0418-03182

Target My Retirement has been designed to be able to meet the requirements for a managed account “qualified default investment alternative” under DOL regulations. Note that plan specific requirements also apply. Plan sponsors should consult their legal advisors for more information.

Wells Fargo Institutional Retirement and Trust has retained Morningstar Investment Management LLC as an independent financial expert to create the Target My Retirement investment strategies. Morningstar Investment Management is a registered investment adviser and a subsidiary of Morningstar, Inc., neither of which is an affiliate of Wells Fargo or its affiliates. Morningstar Investment Management is not acting in the capacity of investment adviser to Target My Retirement participants for purposes of the Investment Advisors Act of 1940, as amended; however, ; or (3) by sending a written request to Morningstar Investment Management LLC, Attention: Compliance, 22 West Washington Street, Chicago, IL 60602.

Wells Fargo Institutional Retirement and Trust charges each participant who enrolls in TMR an asset based management fee based on the participant’s assets under management through the TMR investment solution. The asset based fee varies depending on the version of the TMR investment solution selected by the IRT client. In addition to the asset based management fee, assets invested through TMR are subject to fees and expenses charged by the underlying investment alternatives. Depending on the version of TMR selected by the IRT client, the underlying investment alternatives may include mutual funds or collective investment funds for which Wells Fargo or its affiliates may receive additional compensation.