Alight Solutions 401k Index: January 2018 Observations

401(k) investors started 2018 with exceptionally high trading activity, according to the Alight Solutions 401(k) Index™. January had 12 days of above normal trading activity—one fewer than throughout all of 2017. Investors were primarily trading into equities as the stock market climbed to new records during the month.

January observations:

Net transfers for the month of January were 0.32% of balances
17 out of 21 days favored equity funds

The Alight Solutions 401(k) Index™ statistics for the month of January 2018:

Index statistics

	January	2018 YTD
Total transfers as percentage of starting balance	0.32%	0.32%
# Fixed days	4 (19%)	4 (19%)
# Equity days	17 (81%)	17 (81%)
# Above normal days	12	12

Inflows and outflows during the month:

Trading inflows mainly went to international, large U.S. equity, and emerging markets funds
Outflows were primarily from stable value, company stock, and bond funds

Asset classes with most trading inflows in January

	Percentage of inflows	Index dollar value ($ mil)
International funds	46%	$304
Large U.S. equity funds	34%	$227
Emerging markets funds	16%	$107

Asset classes with most trading outflows in January

	Percentage of outflows	Index dollar value ($ mil)
Stable value funds	49%	$332
Company stock funds	24%	$161
Bond funds	11%	$74

January investment portfolios:

At the end of January, 69.5% of balances were invested in equities, up from 68.6% at the end of December
68.1% of new contributions were invested in equities, up from 67.1% at the end of December

Asset classes with largest percentage of total balance at end of January

	Percentage of balance	Index dollar value ($ mil)
Target date funds²	27%	$57,327
Large U.S. equity funds	24%	$51,218
Stable value funds	9%	$19,911

Asset classes with most contributions in January

	Percentage of contributions	Index dollar value ($ mil)
Target date funds	48%	4669
Large U.S. equity funds	18%	$258
International funds	8%	$114

January market observations

Large U.S. equities, small U.S. equities, and international equities (represented by the S&P 500 Index, the Russell 2000 Index, and MSCI All Country World ex-U.S. Index, respectively) had positive gains in January. U.S. bonds (represented by the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Index) experienced a loss for the month.

Return for common indices

	January	2018 YTD
Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Index	-1.2%	-1.2%
S&P 500 Index	5.7%	5.7%
Russell 2000 Index	2.6%	2.6%
MSCI All Country World ex-U.S. Index (net)	5.6%	5.6%

Members of the media: please contact MacKenzie Lucas for questions about the Alight Solutions 401(k) Index™.

Learn more about the Alight Solutions 401(k) Index here.

A “normal” level of relative transfer activity is when the net daily movement of participants’ balances as a percent of total 401(k) balances within the Alight Solutions 401(k) Index™ equals between 0.3 times and 1.5 times the average daily net activity of the preceding 12 months. A “high” relative transfer activity day is when the net daily movement exceeds two times the average daily net activity. A “moderate” relative transfer activity day is when the net daily movement is between 1.5 and two times the average daily net activity of the preceding 12 months.
Target date funds also include the amounts in target risk funds for companies who do not have target date funds. The amount in the target risk funds is less than 10% of the total.

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