Alight Solutions 401k Index: November 2018 Observations

November was a more typical month for trading activity among 401(k) investors according to Alight Solutions 401(k) Index^TM. The month had three days of above-normal¹ trading activity—down from five in October, but up from the summer lull when there were no above-normal days from July through September.

November observations:

15 of 21 days favored fixed income funds
On average, 0.015% of 401(k) balances were traded daily

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

Index statistics

	November	2018 YTD
Total transfers as percentage of starting balance	0.13%	1/20%
# Fixed days	15 (71%)	140 (60%)
# Equity days	6 (29%)	92 (40%)
# Above normal days	3	37

Inflows and outflows during the month:

Trading inflows mainly went to stable value, money market, and large U.S. equity funds
Outflows were primarily from target date² and company stock

Asset classes with most trading inflows in November

	Percentage of inflows	Index dollar value ($ mil)
Stable value funds	59%	$152
Money market funds	18%	$46
Large U.S. equity	13%	$34

Asset classes with most trading outflows in November

	Percentage of outflows	Index dollar value ($ mil)
Target date funds	62%	$159
Company stock funds	25%	$65

November investment portfolios:

Asset allocation in equities increased slightly to 68.1% at the end of November from 68.0% at the end of October
New contributions in equities decreased to 67.7% in November from 68.1% in October

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

	Percentage of balance	Index dollar value ($ mil)
Target date funds	28%	$55,840
Large U.S. equity funds	25%	$50,375
Stable value funds	10%	$20,899

Asset classes with most contributions in November

	Percentage of contributions	Index dollar value ($ mil)
Target date funds	48%	$528
Large U.S. equity funds	19%	$214
International funds	7%	$80

November market observations

After a volatile October, the capital markets provided positive returns in November. Large-Cap U.S. equities (represented by the S&P 500 Index) were up 2.0% and Small-Cap U.S. equities (represented by the Russell 2000 Index) were up 1.6%. International equities (represented by the MSCI ACWI ex-US Index) were up 1.0% and the U.S. Bond market (represented by the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Index) was up 0.6%.

Returns for common indices

	November	2018 YTD
Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Index	0.6%	-1.8%
S&P 500 Index	2.0%	5.1%
Russell 2000 Index	1.6%	1.0%
MSCI All Country World ex-U.S. Index (net)	1.0%	-10.1%

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.