401(k) Investors Exit Bonds, Equity at Same Pace
The directions of transfers were equity-oriented during half of the days in the month, and fixed-income-oriented during the remaining days. In terms of volume, Hewitt reported the October transfer activity was below the 12-month trailing average.
A net $16 million transferred from fixed-income investments into equities in October, which is significantly lower than the average net transfer between equity and fixed-income asset classes ($240 million) so far this year.
Bond funds received the largest inflows during the month, with $132 million moving into this asset class, which represented nearly 40% of the total transfer amount in October. Both lifestyle funds and international funds received $93 million and $90 million in assets, respectively.
Company stock funds had the largest outflows in October. A total of $131 million moved out of these funds during the month. GIC/stable value experienced $109 million transferring out for the month, while money market funds had outflows of $87 million.
Total equity holdings were down slightly to 56.9% at the end of October, from 57.2% at the end of September. The change is largely due to market movement.
On the other hand, participants’ overall equity contributions rose slightly during the month, from 58.6% at the end of September, to 59.3% at the end of October.
In terms of October asset allocation, Hewitt reported that 27.79% was in GIC/Stable Value, 16.68% in Large U.S. Equity, 14.61% in Company Stock, and 10.65 in Lifestyle/Pre-Mix.
Participants put 22.35% of their October contributions into Lifestyle/Pre-Mix, 20.96% into GIC/Stable Value, 16.99% on Large U.S. Equity, and 8.61% in International.
Less than 1% of balances transferred on a net daily basis during the month, compared to the average 0.04% in the past 12 months. Only one day in the month had an above-normal level of transfer activity—when the Dow Jones Industrial Average had the highest return in the month (more than 2% return on October 29), transfer activity was strongly equity-oriented, with 0.09% of balances shifting during the day.
Hewitt’s October 401(k) data is available here.