Intro: There have been notable shifts over the years in money managers' defined contribution assets. These changes include changes to the mix by plan type and investment vehicle as money managers significantly saw increases in 401(k) and pooled/commingled fund assets. This data was compiled based on responses to Pensions & Investments' 2024 annual money manager survey.
Money manager DC assets shift over time
Chart 1: Growing 401(k) portion: Assets in 401(k) plans have become an increasingly larger portion of money managers’ DC AUM. They now account for 71% of assets, up from 56% in 2008. During this period, assets in 403(b) plans have dropped 12 percentage points to 8%.
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Chart 2: Size differentials: The 10 largest DC money managers (88% of DC assets) had 73% of their assets in 401(k) plans, compared with 58% for the other firms. The smaller managers had a large percentage, 29%, that fell into the "other" category.
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Chart 3: Shifting vehicles: There has been a greater allocation toward pooled/commingled funds and less weight in mutual funds over the past 10 years. That’s across all money managers, although it’s more pronounced among larger ones. The 10 largest DC money managers (86% of DC assets based on those that provided a vehicle breakdown) last year had nearly 41% of their AUM in pooled/commingled funds vs. 30.2% for all others. Mutual funds represented 36.6% of the largest managers’ DC assets compared with 40.4% for the remaining firms.
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Chart 4: Largest DC managers: Three of the five largest DC managers had a greater weight in equities (about 75% to 93%) vs. 68.5% for all plans. Among the largest mangers, fixed income ranged from 1% to 22%.
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As of Dec. 31. Internally managed
Source: Pensions & Investments