Investor concerns about the economy caused high trading activity among retirement plan investors in March, with 0.34% of balances traded, the highest since October 2020, according to the Alight Solutions 401(k) IndexTM. Nearly half the days saw above-normal1 trading, with funds moving mostly from equities to fixed income.
March observations: |
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Inflows and outflows during the month of March:
• Trading inflows mainly went to stable value, bond and money market funds. • Outflows were primarily from large U.S. equity funds, target date2 and small U.S. equity funds |
Asset classes with most trading inflows in March | Percentage of inflows | Index dollar value ($mil) |
| Stable value | 39% | $367 |
| Bond funds | 26% | $245 |
| Money market funds | 19% | $178 |
Asset classes with most trading outflows in March | Percentage of outflows | Index dollar value ($mil) |
| Large U.S. equity funds | 59% | $548 |
| Target date funds2 | 35% | $329 |
| Mid U.S. equity funds | 5% | $49 |
March investment portfolios: |
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Asset classes with largest percentage of total balance at the end of March | Percentage of balance | Index dollar value ($mil) |
Target date funds2 | 31% | $82,491 |
Large U.S. equity funds | 29% | $75,444 |
Bond funds | 7% | $18,054 |
Asset classes with most contributions in March | Percentage of contributions | Index dollar value($mil) |
Target date funds2 | 46% | $938 |
Large U.S. equity funds | 23% | $467 |
International equity funds | 7% | $146 |
Returns for common indices | March | 2025 YTD |
Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index | 0.04% | 2.78% |
S&P 500 Index | -5.63% | -4.27% |
Russell 2000 Index | -6.81% | -9.48% |
MSCI All Country World ex-U.S. Index (net) | -0.23% | 5.23% |
1 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 2 times the average daily net activity of the preceding 12 months.
2 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.
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