Alight Solutions 401k Index: September 2017 Observations

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

September observations:

On average, 0.014% of balances traded each day
16 out of 20 days favored fixed income funds

The Alight Solutions 401(k) Index™ statistics for the month ending September 30, 2017:

Index statistics

	September	2017 YTD
Total transfers as percentage of starting balance	0.17%	1.04%
# Fixed days	16 (80%)	102 (54%)
# Equity days	4 (20%)	86 (46%)
# Above normal days	1	7

Inflows and outflows during the month:

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

Asset classes with most trading inflows in September

	Percentage of inflows	Index dollar value ($ mil)
International funds	27%	$88
Stable value funds	23%	$75
Bond funds	18%	$57

Asset classes with most trading outflows in September

	Percentage of outflows	Index dollar value ($ mil)
Company stock funds	49%	$160
Large U.S. equity funds	28%	$89
Small U.S. equity funds	12%	$38

September investment portfolios:

At the end of September, 67.6% of balances were invested in equities, up from 67.1% at the end of August
67.0% of new contributions were invested in equities, down very slightly from 67.1% in August

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

	Percentage of balance	Index dollar value ($ mil)
Target date² funds	27%	$52,844
Large U.S. equity funds	23%	$45,597
Stable value funds	11%	$21,439

Asset classes with most contributions in September

	Percentage of contributions	Index dollar value ($ mil)
Target date funds	46%	$473
Large U.S. equity funds	19%	$196
International funds	8%	$84

September market observations

Capital markets saw positive gains for small U.S. equity funds (represented by the Russell 2000 Index), large U.S. equity funds (represented by the S&P 500 Index), and international equities (represented by the MSCI All Country World ex-U.S. Index). U.S. bonds (represented by the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Index) declined slightly in September.

Returns for common indices

	September	2017 YTD
Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Index	-0.5%	3.1%
S&P 500 Index	2.1%	14.2%
Russell 2000 Index	6.2%	10.9%
MSCI All Country World ex-U.S. Index (net)	1.9%	21.1%

Members of the media: please contact Landis Cullen 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.