After a rocky start to 2025, retirement plan investors were happy to see their accounts grow as major indices hit record highs in July, according to the Alight Solutions 401(k) IndexTM. Trading was light, with just one above-normal1 trading day. When investors did make moves, they tended to take profits by shifting money from stocks to fixed income funds.
July observations: |
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The Alight Solutions 401(k) Index statistics for the month of July: |
| Index Statistic | July | 2025 YTD |
| Total transfers as percentage of starting balance | 0.13% | $1.24% |
| # Fixed days | 19 (86%) | 100 (69%) |
| # Equity days | 3 (14%) | 44 (31%) |
| # Above-normal days1 | 1 | 43 |
Inflows and outflows during the month of July:
• Trading inflows mainly went to bond, target date2 and money market funds. • Outflows were primarily from company stock, large U.S. equity and mid U.S. equity funds. |
Asset classes with most trading inflows in July | Percentage of inflows | Index dollar value ($mil) |
| Bond funds | 71% | $254 |
| Target date funds2 | 12% | $43 |
| Money market funds | 8% | $27 |
Asset classes with most trading outflows in July | Percentage of outflows | Index dollar value ($mil) |
| Company Stock | 33% | $119 |
| Large U.S. equity funds | 23% | $82 |
| Mid U.S. equity funds | 16% | $59 |
July investment portfolios: |
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Asset classes with largest percentage of total balance at the end of July | Percentage of balance | Index dollar value ($mil) |
Target date funds2 | 31% | $86,215 |
Large U.S. equity funds | 30% | $84,899 |
Company stock funds | 7% | $18,946 |
Asset classes with most contributions in July | Percentage of contributions | Index dollar value($mil) |
Target date funds2 | 49% | $595 |
Large U.S. equity funds | 23% | $273 |
International equity funds | 7% | $85 |
Returns for common indices | July | 2025 YTD |
Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index | -0.26% | 3.75% |
S&P 500 Index | 2.24% | 8.59% |
Russell 2000 Index | 1.73% | -0.08% |
MSCI All Country World ex-U.S. Index (net) | -0.29% | 17.56% |
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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