The Markets

Small plans underperformed large plans for the first quarter of 2014, pulling the median return for all institutional assets tracked by the Wilshire Trust Universe Comparison Service (TUCS)...

The aggregate funded ratio for U.S. corporate defined benefit (DB) pension plans decreased to 86% in April, according to Wilshire Consulting.

The attractiveness of pension annuitization, as tracked by Dietrich & Associates’ Pension Risk Transfer Index, is relatively unchanged from March.

Data about organizations' searches for investment managers reflects a shift toward non-traditional asset mandates.

For the past 30 years, investors, including retirement plan sponsors and participants, have found comfort in fixed-income investments.

Investors in North America and Europe are making use of smart beta indexes in diverse ways, according to a survey from global asset manager Russell Investments.

The hottest issue for those in the retirement benefits industry right now is benefit adequacy, according to Fred Reish.

Employers are finding more reasons to de-risk their defined benefit (DB) retirement plans, says a new analysis from Buck Consultants.

Some defined benefit (DB) plan sponsors are reluctant to transfer liabilities to an insurer, saying it is too expensive, particularly compared with the accounting liability, Mercer says.

New research indicates defined benefit (DB) plans will turn increasingly to alternative investments during 2014.

Sure it's good to achieve a “comfortable” retirement, but one investment manager says many retirement plan participants are struggling to achieve even basic levels of retirement income adequacy.

A lawsuit brought by the Department of Labor (DOL) recently resulted in a court judgment that orders the fiduciaries of a Columbia, Maryland, 401(k) plan to pay restitution...

The aggregate funded status of the 100 largest U.S. corporate defined benefit pension plans fell by $5 billion during March, as measured by the Milliman 100 Pension Funding...

Strong global equity market performance and higher liability discount rates worked wonders on the funded status of S&P 500 Index companies during 2013, says Wilshire Consulting.

Retirement plan participants are showing strong interest in target-date strategies, but one provider says retirement investors should stick to the most conservative approaches.

Recent research by investment management firm Vanguard indicates trading by participants of defined contribution (DC) plans has decreased by half over the last decade.

Defined contribution (DC) plans are increasingly adopting practices similar to defined benefit (DB) plans to improve participant outcomes, including automatic enrollment and “do-it-for-me” investments.

Market conditions like those seen in 2013 benefited those plan sponsors that had not yet moved to de-risk their defined benefit (DB) plans.

March was a light trading month for defined contribution (DC) plan participants, according to Aon Hewitt’s 401(k) Index.

The estimated cost, as a percentage of accounting liability, of a U.S. retiree annuity purchase decreased during February from 108.5% to 108.4%, according to Mercer.