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Alight Solutions 401(k) Index™: February 2024 Observations

Alight Solutions 401(k) Index™: February 2024 Observations

Trading activity cooled slightly in February with just four above-normal1 days, compared to eight above-normal1 days in January, according to the Alight Solutions 401(k) IndexTM. Investors favored fixed income funds on 12 of 20 days. Large U.S. equity (55%), bond (23%) and stable value (13%) funds saw the most inflows, while target date funds2 (33%), company stock (17%) and money market (13%) experienced the most outflows. New contributions to equities rose from 69.2% in January to 69.6% in February, while average asset allocation in equities increased from 70.7% to 71.4%, the highest since January 2001.

February observations:

  • On average, 0.012% of 401(k) balances were traded daily.
  • 12 of 21 days favored fixed income funds.

The Alight Solutions 401(k) IndexTM statistics for the month of February:

Index statistics

February

2024 YTD

Total transfers as percentage of starting balance

0.17%

0.33%

# Fixed days

12 (60%)

24 (59%)

# Equity days

8 (40%)

17 (41%)

# Above-normal1 days

4

12


Inflows and outflows during the month of February:

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

Asset classes with most trading 

inflows in February

Percentage of inflows

Index dollar value ($mil)

Large U.S. equity funds

55%

$233

Bond funds

23%

$99

Money market funds

13%

$54

Asset classes with most trading 

outflows in February

Percentage of outflows

Index dollar value ($mil)

Target date funds2 

33%

$141

Company stock

17%

$72

Small U.S. equity funds

15%

$64


February investment portfolios:

  • After reflecting market movements and trading activity, average asset allocation in equities increased from 70.7% in January to 71.4% in February.
  • New contributions to equities increased from 69.2% in January to 69.6% in February.

Asset classes with largest percentage

of total balance at the end of February

  Percentage of balance

  Index dollar value ($mil)  

Target date funds2

31%

$80,094

Large U.S. equity funds

28%

$74,796

Stable value funds

7%

$17,732

Asset classes with most 

contributions in February

Percentage of contributions

Index dollar value($mil)

Target date funds2

47%

$881

Large U.S. equity funds

23%

$426

International equity funds

7%

$131


Returns for common indices

February

2024 YTD

Bloomberg Barclays Capital U.S. Aggregate Bond Index

-1.41%

-1.68%

S&P 500 Index

5.34%

7.11%

Russell 2000 Index

5.65%

1.54%

MSCI All Country World ex-U.S. Index (net)

2.53%

1.51%

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.

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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