Though Mid US Equity and Small US Equity offerings each saw relatively small negative net transfers in October, Large US Equity offerings had the highest transfers in at over $133 million, the Hewitt data showed. The Large US Equity asset class had positive flows for the first time this year in September, but still had lost $900 million to participant transfers year-to-date as of the end of September.
Lifestyle funds followed Large US Equities closely, winning over $130 million of assets transferred by 401(k) participants in October. In the past four months lifestyle funds have seen positive net transfers of over $440 million, the highest amount for any four month period in the history of the Index, Hewitt said. Participants moved nearly $77 million to International Equity offerings in the month.
GIC/Stable Value offerings saw a reversal of participant favor in October, with a negative net transfer amount of nearly $87 million for the month. As in September, company stock was the biggest loser with net transfers out of over $311 million. Company stock funds, however, continued to hold the largest percentage of participant 401(k) assets among asset classes at 21.48%.
Participants’ exposure to equities continued to inch up with the help of strong market performance to 68% of 401(k) assets, compared to 67.4% in September. Large US Equity funds held 20.92% of participant assets as of the end of October, followed by GIC/Stable Value offerings with 20.72% of total 401(k) assets.
Large US Equity funds gained 20.62% of overall contributions to 401(k) accounts in October, followed by company stock at 16.47% and GIC/Stable Value at 16.37%. Almost 22% of participant contributions went to Large US Equity funds during the month. Participant contributions to Lifestyle/Pre-Mix funds were at an all time high of 15.8% of contributions, Hewitt said.
Hewitt 401(k) Index results for October can be viewed here