Independent wealth management firm Aspiriant has joined the mutual fund game.

The $7-billion AUM firm unveiled today the Aspiriant Risk-Managed Global Equity (RGE) Fund, a new global equity mutual fund that will attempt to outperform global equity benchmarks while limiting losses during times of intense market volatility.

This is the first registered mutual fund developed by Aspiriant. Initially, the RGE Fund will be available exclusively to Aspiriant's own investment advisory clients.

The fund will have three investment managers: AQR Capital Management; Dimensional Fund Advisors; and Parametric Risk Advisors.

UMB Distribution Services will be the distributor. Here is the press release:

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Company Press Release

Aspiriant Creates Innovative Global Equity Mutual Fund

Pioneering Risk-Managed Global Equity Fund Developed by Firm

?LOS ANGELES, Mar 26, 2013 -- Aspiriant, the leading independent wealth management firm in the U.S., today unveiled the Aspiriant Risk-Managed Global Equity (RGE) Fund (ticker:RMEAX), a new global equity mutual fund that will attempt to outperform global equity benchmarks while limiting losses during times of intense market volatility. This is the first registered mutual fund developed by Aspiriant. Initially, the RGE Fund will be available exclusively to Aspiriant investment advisory clients.

"The fund is a public equity solution for individual client portfolios," said Jason Thomas, Ph.D., CFA, chief investment officer of Aspiriant who will oversee the sub-advisors in the fund. "In addition to a quantitative equity strategy, the fund applies a number of sophisticated risk management techniques previously unavailable to individual investors at a reasonable cost. We believe these strategies to positively impact performance and simultaneously ease our clients' anxiety about staying invested in equities during times of huge market swings."

"The RGE Fund represents a significant step forward for individual investors. For the first time ever, Aspiriant expects to provide our clients growth, income, and protection, all within a single fund. Specifically, the RGE Fund seeks to achieve growth through long-term capital appreciation; generate additional income and reduce volatility through covered call writing; and protect the value of assets against periods of severe market stress through tail risk management. We will also use a number of techniques, including one made popular by ETFs, to minimize the taxes paid by investors," Thomas added.

The fund will be broadly diversified, with allocations to U.S., developed international, and emerging equity markets. The fund will attempt to outperform the broad equity market through active stock selection while offering two additional options-based strategies, one designed to generate additional income and the other to limit losses during a bear market.

"Aspiriant has the scale, investment sophistication and innovative thinking to bridge the divide between institutional and high net worth investors. We hope to redefine the term 'smart money'" said Thomas. "And by combining these strategies in a single fund, we expect to execute them in a manner that is efficient and cost effective, while providing our clients the transparency and liquidity available only in registered mutual funds."

Distinguished Investment Managers

Three distinguished investment managers will manage Aspiriant's Fund:

-- AQR Capital Management, LLC ("AQR") is a global asset management firm with a systematic and disciplined approach to applying analytical research to diversified investment strategies ranging from benchmark-oriented long-only funds to absolute-return alternatives. AQR clients include institutional investors, such as pension funds, as well as registered investment advisors.

-- Dimensional Fund Advisors is a global asset management firm with over $262 billion in client assets as of December 31, 2012. Founded in 1981, Dimensional offers investment strategies that seek to provide access to sources of higher expected returns informed by rigorous academic research into financial markets. Dimensional also focuses on mitigating costs and effectively managing tax impacts for select funds.

-- Parametric Risk Advisors, LLC ("PRA") is an SEC Registered Investment Advisor and offers investment management services, including disciplined option trading strategies such as covered call writing. Parametric Risk Advisors is an affiliate of Parametric Portfolio Associates, LLC (Parametric), an industry-leading provider of structured portfolio management services. Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, Parametric was founded in 1987 and is a majority-owned subsidiary of Eaton Vance.

About Aspiriant

Aspiriant is the leading independent wealth management firm in the U.S., with more than $7 billion in assets under management and advisement. The firm provides a full range of wealth management services for some 800 individual and family office clients throughout the country. Unlike many other wealth management firms, Aspiriant is 100 percent owned by current and former key employees, which ensures its long-term stability and independence. The firm has offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Boston, Cincinnati, Milwaukee and Minneapolis.

Please consider the fund's investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses carefully before investing. The prospectus that contains this and other information about the Fund is available by calling 1.877.997.9971 and should be read carefully prior to investing.

An investment in the Fund is subject to risks and you could lose money on your investment in the Fund. The principal risks of investing in the Fund include, but are not limited to, investing in smaller companies with limited resources and the use of predictive models. A value oriented investing style may go in and out of favor which may cause the Fund to sometimes underperform other equity funds.

Foreign securities have additional risks including currency rate changes, political and economic instability, less regulation and market liquidity. Investments in emerging markets involve even greater risks.

The Fund may invest in derivatives which can be highly volatile, illiquid, difficult to value, and changes in the value of a derivative may not correlate with the underlying securities or other securities held directly by the Fund. Such risks include losses which, as a result of leverage, can be substantially greater than the derivatives' original cost. There is also a possibility that derivatives may not perform as intended, which can reduce opportunity for gain or result in losses by offsetting positive returns in other securities the Fund owns.

The Fund is managed to limit capital gains, however, it may not be able to implement its tax-managed approach under certain market conditions, legislative and regulatory changes. The performance of the Fund may deviate from and not provide as high a return as non-tax managed funds.

Aspiriant Risk-Managed Global Equity Fund distributed by UMB Distribution Services, LLC.

 

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