Alight Solutions 401(k) Index: September 2020 Observations

September was a light month for 401(k) trading, according to the Alight Solutions 401(k) Index^TM. There were zero above-normal¹ trading days in September, and when trades occurred, they generally went from equity to fixed income funds.

September observations:

On average, 0.018% of 401(k) balances were traded daily
19 of 21 days favored fixed income funds

Alight Solutions 401(k) Index statistics for September 2020:

Index statistics	September	2020 YTD
Total transfers as percentage of starting balance	0.27%	2.85%
# Fixed days	19 (90%)	140 (74%)
# Equity days	2 (10%)	49 (26%)
# Above-normal days	0	37

Inflows and outflows during September:

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

Asset classes with most trading inflows in September

	Percentage of inflows	Index dollar value ($ mil)
Bond funds	51%	$324
Stable value funds	37%	$232
Money market funds	9%	$56

Asset classes with most trading outflows in September

	Percentage of outflows	Index dollar value ($ mil)
Large U.S. equity funds	41%	$258
Mid U.S. equity funds	15%	$93
Target date funds	14%	$86

September investment portfolios:

After reflecting market movements and trading activity, average asset allocation in equities decreased from 66.6% in August to 66.1% in September
New contributions to equities remained at 67.2% from August through September

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

	Percentage of balance	Index dollar value ($ mil)
Target date funds	29%	$65,268
Large U.S. equity funds	25%	$57,208
Stable value funds	10%	$22,538

Asset classes with most contributions in September

	Percentage of contributions	Index dollar value ($ mil)
Target date funds	47%	$514
Large U.S. equity funds	20%	$219
International equity funds	7%	$77

September market observations:

Markets were down in September with large U.S. equities (represented by the S&P 500 Index) falling -3.8%, small U.S. equities (represented by the Russell 2000 Index) sliding -3.3%, international equities (represented by the MSCI All Country World ex-U.S. Index) losing -2.5% and U.S. bonds (represented by the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Index) falling -0.1%.

Returns for common indices

	September	2020 YTD
Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Index	-0.1%	6.8%
S&P 500 Index	-3.8%	5.6%
Russell 2000 Index	-3.3%	-8.7%
MSCI All Country World ex-U.S. Index (net)	-2.5%	-5.4%

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