401(k) plan participants in November maintained a now six-month trend in moving money to fixed income from equities, according to Aon Hewitt's November 401(k) Index.
In November, $253 million, or 0.2%, of 401(k) assets was transferred among investment options, with fixed-income investment options receiving the majority of the net transfers, according to a news release from Aon Hewitt. Bond funds received $149 million, the largest amount of total inflow activity, followed by stable value, at $94 million. Money market funds gained $6 million.
It was the opposite story for equities as nearly all types of equities saw net outflows. Including sponsoring company stock, $239 million of all transfers came from equities. U.S. small-cap equity funds had the largest outflows, totaling $67 million, or 28% of total outflows. International funds lost $43 million, followed by U.S. large-cap equity funds, which lost $36 million for the month.
Transfer activity was slightly below average for the month, with 0.033% of balances transferred on average during November, according to the news release.
The average participant equity allocation declined to 58.6% from 58.8% a month earlier. Employee-only contributions directed to equities also continued to decline in November to 60.8%, from 61.5% in October. Contributions to equities have steadily fallen since July, according to the release.
Aon Hewitt spokeswoman MacKenzie Lucas said in an e-mail that the Aon Hewitt office was closed and that no one was available for comment.
The 401(k) Index universe is made up of Aon Hewitt's record-keeping clients, which have about $100 billion in total assets.
