Alight Solutions 401k Index: November 2017 Observations

Trading among defined contribution plan investors was light in November, according to the Alight Solutions 401(k) Index^TM, with only one day of above-normal¹ trading activity.

November observations:

On average, 0.014% of balances were traded each day
12 out of 21 days favored fixed income funds

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

Index statistics	November	2017 YTD
Total transfers as percentage of starting balance	0.15%	1.31%
# Fixed days	12 (57%)	125 (54%)
# Equity days	9 (43%)	106 (46%)
# Above normal days	1	11

Inflows and outflows during the month:

Trading inflows went to international, bond, and mid U.S. equity funds
Outflows were primarily from company stock, stable value, and small U.S. equity funds

Asset classes with most trading inflows in November

	Percentage of inflows	Index dollar value ($ mil)
International funds	63%	$190
Bond funds	16%	$49
Mid U.S. equity funds	7%	$20

Asset classes with most trading outflows in November

	Percentage of outflows	Index dollar value ($ mil)
Company stock funds	48%	$146
Stable value funds	23%	$70
Small U.S. equity funds	14%	$41

November investment portfolios:

At the end of November, 68.3% of balances were invested in equities, up from 67.9% at the end of October
67.2% of new contributions were invested in equities, unchanged from October

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

	Percentage of balance	Index dollar value ($ mil)
Target date funds²	27%	$54,387
Large U.S. equity funds	24%	$47,905
Stable value funds	10%	$20,805

Asset classes with most contributions in November

	Percentage of contributions	Index dollar value ($ mil)
Target date funds	47%	$459
Large U.S. equity funds	19%	$183
International funds	8%	$80

November market observations

Strong positive gains were seen for large and small U.S. equity funds (represented by the S&P 500 Index and Russell 2000 Index, respectively). International equities (represented by the MSCI All Country World ex-U.S. Index) experienced lesser gains. U.S. bonds (represented by the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Index) experienced a slight loss in November.

Returns for common indices

	November	2017 YTD
Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Index	-0.1%	3.1%
S&P 500 Index	3.0%	20.5%
Russell 2000 Index	2.9%	15.1%
MSCI All Country World ex-U.S. Index (net)	0.8%	24.4%

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. The amount in the target risk funds is less than 10% of the total.