American Century plans to tap intermediary distribution to juice sales of its Learning Quest Education Savings Program 529 college savings plan market. The firm is following a trend in the industry of adding intermediary distribution to existing programs.

Learning Quest Advisor will make its debut in the second quarter of 2002, according to an American Century spokesperson. The program is sponsored by Kansas and available nationwide.

"Adding Learning Quest Advisor to American Century's lineup allows us to build on Learning Quest's success by giving it a new pricing structure to meet advisors' needs and gives investors the opportunity to work with those advisors," said David Larrabee, American Century senior vice president of Third Party Territory Sales.

Investors using the advisor-sold program will be able to invest in the same 22 strategic portfolios and three diversified investment tracks featured in the directly-sold program.

However, Learning Quest Advisor will have a different pricing and fee structure. Those fees will include either a front-, level- or back-end commission, or sales charge.

American Century has been adding intermediary distribution to its retail funds also. A spokesperson reports that cannibalization between the two sales channels has yet to be an issue.  

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