The Markets

The effort to de-risk defined benefit (DB) pension plans is an immensely complex task that presents no shortage of challenges or opportunities to retirement plan sponsors and consultants.

The stable value market has changed significantly post financial crisis, says Josh Kruk, head of stable value portfolio management at Dwight Asset Management, and the evolution is ongoing.

A paper from Towers Watson recommends, for defined contribution (DC) plans, up to 25% of traditional U.S. aggregate bond assets can be switched to absolute return assets.

Retirement plan participants need to look at their investments over a longer time horizon, says a recent paper from Fidelity Investments, especially when they use target-date funds (TDFs).

The strong growth of passive investment products shows little sign of slowing over the short term and could signal an important secular trend, according to new research from...

A recent analysis from Gerstein Fisher challenges the notion that mutual fund managers don't have as much incentive to outperform as peers running other fund types.

Witnesses for a hearing about women’s retirement security advocated for Social Security improvements, expanded retirement plan access, and plan design changes.

For first quarter 2014, target-date funds were muted in terms of performance amid healthy cash flows into the funds, says Ibbotson Associates Inc.

Frequent trading by some 401(k) participants is eliciting a response from fund providers such as Vanguard and T. Rowe Price.

Long-term funds netted $45.2 billion in April, bringing year-to-date intake to $176 billion.

While offering lump-sum distribution windows to terminated, vested participants could reduce the liabilities of a defined benefit (DB) plan, some plan sponsors are still hesitant to use this...

How to make sure assets last throughout retirement is a key question for advisers, and often very difficult to answer. 

Investors paid lower average expense ratios for equity mutual funds in 2013, says a report from the Investment Company Institute (ICI).

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is seeking comments about the definition of real property for real estate investment trust (REIT) investments.

The use of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) by institutional investors is increasing, a study finds.

Affluent investors surveyed by Legg Mason identified the decisions they made that have had a positive impact on their investment success.

Aon Hewitt’s 401(k) Index shows April was another light trading month for defined contribution (DC) plan participants.

The funded status of the largest U.S. corporate defined benefit (DB) pension plans decreased in April, shows data from consulting and actuarial firm Milliman Inc.

The Towers Watson Pension Index dropped 1.2% for the month of April to reach a value of 74.3, showing a decrease in the funded status of U.S. corporate...

Funding for corporate defined benefit (DB) plans decreased in April, says an analysis from the BNY Mellon Investment Strategy and Solutions Group (ISSG).