The Markets

For two types of DB plans, investment-driven liabilities (IDL) is almost risk free for plan sponsors, and at the same time, provides more meaningful benefits to participants, John...

Willis Towers Watson finds North American funds showed the most noticeable annualized growth rate over the last five years.

Survey data covering some 1,000 plan participants shows Roth savings features remain poorly understood and underutilized. 

In addition, Alight Solutions finds participant trading in 401(k) plans has slowed down from 1997 to 2017.

The transition period, from five years before retirement to five years after, is the most critical phase of lifecycle investing—and potentially the most difficult to manage with a...

A researcher from Arizona State University describes some surprising research findings that show many long-term equity investments fail to outperform short-term Treasuries.

Morningstar reports that among active U.S. stock funds, the worst performers were small blend funds, of which only 32% beat their benchmarks in the past year.

Intermediary-sold fund distribution data from Strategic Insight shows taxable bond strategies led mutual fund demand during the second quarter of 2017. 

Almost all Millennial investors in a study indicated they want sustainable investment options in their 401(k)s.

When they did trade, most inflows went to non-U.S. equities, according to Alight Solutions.

Experts with Charles Schwab warn that a decade of generally stable credit markets has some investors feeling a false sense of security about “stretching for yield” within near...

Corporate funds saw a quarterly gain of 3.13%, compared to a median return of 2.88% for all plan types, according to the Wilshire TUCS.

This is up from 8% in 2011.

However, according to the Alight Solutions 401(k) Index, formerly the Aon Hewitt 401(k) Index, trading activity for the months was the lowest for the year.

Actively managed mutual funds attracted significant adviser-intermediated assets during the first half of 2017, but money is quickly flowing out of non-institutional active share classes. 

DC plan sponsor clients can leverage both TDFs and managed accounts together to maximize outcomes.

To better protect participants against longevity risk and low market returns, plan sponsors intend to improve fixed income strategies in the next year, T. Row Price reports.

Some industry experts believe managed account performance should not be benchmarked against an index but instead against an investor’s unique individual goals.

More DC plan sponsors are selecting non-proprietary TDFs and CIT TDFs, research finds.

A trio of experts from Manning and Napier examine the “new era of DC plan menu design,” arguing encouraging developments are on the horizon.