2010 Funds Have Rough Quarter

October 3, 2008 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - It's been a rough month for the markets, and a challenging quarter for 401(k) plan investments.

Consequently, it seems likely that a growing number of 401(k) plan participants – and plan sponsors – will be curious to know how the target-date fund offerings on their menus have fared.

Varied Allocations

Asset allocations in these target date funds vary widely, of course, mirroring variances in the glide path philosophies that underpin them (see Glide Paths – Getting From Here to There ) – and those variances are most evident in the target date fund closest to the target date.     That’s also the place/time when workers are potentially most vulnerable to the fluctuations in the market, of course.

According to Target Date Analytics (TDA), the “raw” average year-to-date performance of the four largest 2010 funds (the ones for folks closest to retirement) at September 30:   -13.73%.  

The following are returns provided by TDA based on Morningstar data.   The four funds listed hold about 90% of all the assets invested in 2010 funds, according to TDA. Their performance for the periods indicated is presented alongside the PLANSPONSOR On-Target Indexes, or OTI, a new industry standard for target-date funds.


  Fund   & ticker

align=”center”>  4-wks

align=”center”>  3 months 

align=”center”>  YTD

align=”center”>  12 months

align=”center”>   3 yr 

  Fidelity 2010 (FFFCX) 

align=”right”>  -6.92%

align=”right”> -8.62%

align=”right”> -12.95%

align=”right”> -13.60%

align=”right”>   1.46%

  T. Rowe 2010 (TRRAX) 

align=”right”>  -7.56%

align=”right”>   -8.11%

align=”right”>  -14.00%

align=”right”> -14.93%

align=”right”> 1.95%

  Vanguard 2010 (VTENX) 

align=”right”>  -6.06%

align=”right”> -6.32%

align=”right”> -11.23%

align=”right”>-11.30%

align=”right”> N/A

  Principal 2010 (PTTIX)  

align=”right”> -8.23%

align=”right”> -10.38%

align=”right”> -16.72%

align=”right”> -18.68%

align=”right”> -0.65%

      
  PLANSPONSOR OTI 2010  

align=”right”> -2.90%

align=”right”> -3.12%

align=”right”> -0.81%

align=”right”> 1.69%

align=”right”> 5.14%


You can find out more about the PLANSPONSOR On-Target Indexes at http://www.tdbench.com/Services.html

«