The situation at U.S. defined benefit and defined contribution retirement plans may have deteriorated sharply in just 6 months.
Researchers at the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans, Brookfield, Wis., have come to that conclusion in a summary of results from a May survey of 1,305 large and midsize U.S. pension plan sponsors.
The percentage of defined benefit plan sponsors who said their plans have made major asset-allocation changes has increased to 42% this month, from 20% in late 2008, the IFEBP researchers report.
About 37% of the sponsors that made changes have increased allocations to fixed-income investments.