First-time analysis provides data on lifecycle fund utilization

“The study’s findings highlight that 401(k) participants, particularly recent hires, are looking to diversify their account balances,” said Sarah Holden, senior director of retirement and investor research at ICI and co-author of the study. “Participants are increasingly using new tools such as lifecycle funds, which take age and projected retirement date into account, when planning their retirement savings strategy.”

The study’s other key findings include:

• The bulk of 401(k) assets continued to be invested in stocks. On average, at year-end 2007, about two-thirds of 401(k) participants’ assets were invested in equity securities through equity funds, the equity portion of balanced funds, and company stock. About one-third was in fixed-income securities such as stable value investments and bond and money market funds. Although these relative shares have changed little over the past 12 years, the underlying fund composition has changed over time.
• 401(k) participants continued to seek diversification of their investments. The share of 401(k) accounts invested in company stock continued to shrink, falling by 0.5 percentage point (to 10.6 percent) in 2007. That continued a steady decline that started in 1999. Recently hired 401(k) participants contributed to this trend: they were less likely to hold employer stock.
• Participants’ 401(k) loan activity was stable. In 2007, 18 percent of all 401(k) participants eligible for loans had taken a loan against their 401(k) account, the same percentage as at year-end 2006. Most loans tended to be small, amounting to 12 percent of the remaining account balance, on average, similar to year-end 2006.
• At year-end 2007, the average account balance in the EBRI/ICI database was $65,454, compared with $61,346 at year-end 2006. 401(k) account balances varied with participant age, tenure, and salary. Individuals with account balances of less than $10,000 were primarily young workers or workers with short job tenures. In contrast, those with account balances in excess of $100,000 were primarily older workers or workers with longer job tenure.
• The year-end 2007 average account balance in the database was 6.7 percent higher than the year before, but does not accurately reflect the experience of typical 401(k) participants in 2007. To examine the experience of 401(k) participants, one must control for the impact of 401(k) plans or participants joining and leaving the database year to year. As with previous EBRI/ICI updates, analysis of a consistent sample of 401(k) participants (those that have been in the same plan since 1999) is planned. EBRI and ICI will publish this additional analysis in early 2009.

The study is published in the December 2008 Employee Benefit Research Institute Issue Brief and Investment Company Institute Perspective. EBRI’s Jack VanDerhei, EBRI research director; ICI’s Holden; Craig Copeland, EBRI senior research associate; and Luis Alonso, EBRI director of information technology and research databases, wrote the study.