Professional investment assistance helps DC plan participants’ outcomes; however, an analysis from Alight Solutions found users of managed accounts see higher returns, are more diversified and save more in their DC plans.
The flows went primarily to bond, stable value and money market funds.
This is the first dip since the third quarter of 2017, according to BNY Mellon
Market volatility weighed down returns, with Corporate Plans seeing a median first quarter loss of 0.78%.
A broad new Investment Company Institute analysis shows the expense ratios of target-date mutual funds have fallen 34% since 2008, alongside the expense ratios of most other types of long-term funds.
PLANADVISER presents an impromptu Q&A with John Diehl, senior vice president of strategic markets for Hartford Funds, on the subject of market volatility and keeping a long-term perspective amid big equity price swings.
Favorable equity market and interest rate forces resulted in a 2% increase in the average U.S. pension plan funded status during April.
In a Q&A with BlackRock Managing Director Anne Ackerley, PLANADVISER hears about emerging opportunities to deliver retirement income solutions to DC plan participants, including through TDFs.
The financial crisis resulted in severe declines in the funded status of most U.S. corporate pension funds resulting in almost universal pension deficits; companies’ various responses to the challenge offer some food for thought.
Adjustments made to the corporate tax rate, repatriation of offshore cash and interest rate deductibility all are likely to have immediate effects on the credit markets—and by extension, on institutional investors’ fixed-income portfolios.
"Our data shows that the cheapest 20% of funds raked in nearly $1 trillion last year while the rest of the industry saw net outflows of approximately $250 billion. The message investors are sending is crystal clear—cost counts," says Patricia Oey, senior manager research analyst for Morningstar.
“There is no such thing as a passive glide path design, and this, as well as the many other active decisions that go into the creation and management of a TDF, can translate into meaningful differences in investment risks and results, even among passive TDFs,” observes Jake Gilliam at Charles Schwab.
The report identifies asset managers and several states’ public pension systems as institutions that have all taken action regarding gun manufacturer investments.
“As they ready their portfolios for the end of the 'Goldilocks' market, U.S. institutions are integrating ETFs more deeply into their portfolio management and investment strategies,” says Andrew McCollum, Greenwich Associates Managing Director.
A report from Greenwich Associates concludes that a move toward more systematic instrument selection would ultimately enhance fund returns by capturing alpha invisible to the naked eye.
The latest J.P. Morgan Asset Management Guide to the Markets publication asks the complex but crucial question, at what level of U.S. interest rates should we start to worry about a recession?
A new Cerulli Associates analysis shows institutional custom solutions assets stood at $1.7 trillion at year-end 2016, and assets are projected to grow 10.4% to 1.9 trillion by 2021.
Within U.S. equities, the asset classes they see the most promise in are technology and small cap.
In its discussions with TDF managers, Mercer has found many managers say they have not aligned with the ACWI, and have continued with portfolios that display home equity bias for a number of reasons; the research also shows strong growth in passive TDF market share.
EBRI's longer-term 401(k) account balance statistics offer hope for participants to help them withstand market volatility.