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

Alight Solutions 401(k) IndexTM: July 2024 Observations

October was a slow trading month for retirement investors, according to the Alight Solutions 401(k) IndexTM. On average, daily net transfers were 0.008% of balances. When participants made trades, they overwhelmingly favored fixed income over equities with 18 of the 23 days showing net transfers favoring stable value, money market and bond funds.

October observations:        

•    On average, 0.008% of 401(k) balances were traded daily.

•    18 of 23 days favored fixed income funds.


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

Index statistics

October

2024 YTD

Total transfers as percentage of starting balance

0.1%

1.09%

# Fixed days

18 (78%)

139 (66%)

# Equity days

5 (22%)

73 (34%)

# Above-normal1 days

3

33


Inflows and outflows during the month of October:

•    Trading inflows mainly went to bond, money market and stable value funds.

•    Outflows were primarily from target date2, large U.S. equity and company stock funds.


Asset classes with most trading 

inflows in October

Percentage of inflows

Index dollar value ($mil)

Bond funds

62%

$164

Money market funds

27%

$72

Stable value funds

9%

$25

Asset classes with most trading 

outflows in October

Percentage of outflows

Index dollar value ($mil)

Target date funds2

36%

$95

Large U.S. equity funds

17%

$46

Company stock

15%

$39


October investment portfolios:

•    After reflecting market movements and trading activity, average asset allocation in equities decreased from 72.2% in September to 72.1% in October.

•    New contributions to equities decreased from 69.5% in September to 69.3% in October.

Asset classes with largest percentage

of total balance at the end of October

  Percentage of balance

  Index dollar value ($mil)  

Target date funds2

31%

$81,940

Large U.S. equity funds

29%

$76,680

Company stock funds

7%

$19,027

Asset classes with most 

contributions in October

Percentage of contributions

Index dollar value($mil)

Target date funds2

53%

$571

Large U.S. equity funds

21%

$223

International equity funds

6%

$71


Returns for common indices

October

2024 YTD

Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index

-2.48%

1.86%

S&P 500 Index

-0.91%

20.97%

Russell 2000 Index

-1.44%

9.56%

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

-4.91%

8.61%

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.

Related Insights


Alight Solutions 401(k) Index™: November Observations

November was a busy month for retirement investors, according to the Alight Solutions 401(k) IndexTM. Early in the month, there was a marked increase in trading with all six of the above-normal trading days occurring in the first nine trading days of the month.

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

Trading activity was light in September with just two above-normal1 days, according to the Alight Solutions 401(k) IndexTM. When investors were active, however, there was a flight to safety, as fixed income funds experienced net inflows on 18 of the 20 trading days.

Alight Solutions 401(k) Index™: Third Quarter 2024 Observations

401(k) investors concentrated their trading activity to a handful of days in Q3, according to the Alight Solutions 401(k) IndexTM.