Featured Topics
Retirement Industry
Magazine Archive
Education/Advice
Where Do you Go for Financial Advice?
According to a report released by the Investment Company Institute (ICI) and the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), fears that younger participants in 401(k) plans would abandon stock investing are not borne out by the data, which suggest greater use of target-date funds is helping workers keep their investing on track. The report, “401(k) Plan Asset Allocation, Account Balances and Loan Activity in 2010,” found shares of 401(k) participants who had either no equities at all or high concentrations of equities were lower in 2010 than in 2000 for almost every age group. Among all 401(k) plan participants in 2000, 12.7% held no equity investments (either in equity funds, the equity portion of balanced funds or company stock), while 54.1% had more than 80% of their plan accounts allocated to equities. In the current study’s sample of more than 23 million participants, 401(k) participants had moderated their account allocations to equities: 11.8% of account holders had no allocation to stocks, while the share of participants with more than 80% of their balances invested in stocks dropped to 40% percent. The only age group where this moderating trend didn’t fully hold was workers in their 20s. In 2010, these young participants were somewhat more likely to have more than 80% of their account in equities—60.4% in 2010 versus 55.3% for their counterparts in 2000. That finding runs counter to the notion that younger participants, whose investing experience might be framed by the bear markets of 2000 and 2008, would become a “lost generation,” avoiding all stock market investments. Other data in the EBRI/ICI study indicate that growing use of target-date funds—balanced funds that typically rebalance their portfolios to become less focused on growth and more focused on income as they approach and pass the target date—may play a role in keeping younger participants invested in equities. The study found that seven out of 10 plans included target-date funds in their investment lineup at year-end 2010, and that recently hired participants in their 20s had 35% of their account balances in target-date funds, up from 31% in 2009 and 16% in 2006.
According to a report released by the Investment Company Institute (ICI) and the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), fears that younger participants in 401(k) plans would abandon stock investing are not borne out by the data, which suggest greater use of target-date funds is helping workers keep their investing on track.
The report, “401(k) Plan Asset Allocation, Account Balances and Loan Activity in 2010,” found shares of 401(k) participants who had either no equities at all or high concentrations of equities were lower in 2010 than in 2000 for almost every age group.
Among all 401(k) plan participants in 2000, 12.7% held no equity investments (either in equity funds, the equity portion of balanced funds or company stock), while 54.1% had more than 80% of their plan accounts allocated to equities. In the current study’s sample of more than 23 million participants, 401(k) participants had moderated their account allocations to equities: 11.8% of account holders had no allocation to stocks, while the share of participants with more than 80% of their balances invested in stocks dropped to 40% percent.
The only age group where this moderating trend didn’t fully hold was workers in their 20s. In 2010, these young participants were somewhat more likely to have more than 80% of their account in equities—60.4% in 2010 versus 55.3% for their counterparts in 2000. That finding runs counter to the notion that younger participants, whose investing experience might be framed by the bear markets of 2000 and 2008, would become a “lost generation,” avoiding all stock market investments.
Other data in the EBRI/ICI study indicate that growing use of target-date funds—balanced funds that typically rebalance their portfolios to become less focused on growth and more focused on income as they approach and pass the target date—may play a role in keeping younger participants invested in equities. The study found that seven out of 10 plans included target-date funds in their investment lineup at year-end 2010, and that recently hired participants in their 20s had 35% of their account balances in target-date funds, up from 31% in 2009 and 16% in 2006.
Copyright ©1989-2012 Asset International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. No Reproduction without Prior Authorization