Colorado Public Employees’ Retirement Association, Denver, will change its default option in its 401(k) and 401(a) plans to the Dodge & Cox Balanced Fund, effective Dec. 23, confirmed spokeswoman Katie Kaufmanis. The switch from the Northern Trust Short Term Fund is based on a recent U.S. Department of Labor regulation that short-term funds shouldn’t be used as defaults because the return is not likely to provide adequate retirement savings for most participants over time.
Colorado PERA began offering its $1.9 million 401(a) plan on Jan. 1, 2006, and 58% of participants take the default option. The system also offers a supplementary $1.7 billion 401(k) plan. Bundled provider CitiStreet provides the same 18 options to both plans.
