The Markets October 3, 2008

2010 Funds Have Rough Quarter

It’s been a rough month for the markets, and a challenging quarter for 401(k) plan investments.
Reported by

Consequently, it seems likely that a growing number of 401(k) plan participants—as well as plan sponsors and their advisers—will be curious to know how the target-date fund offerings on their menus have fared.

Varied Allocations

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Asset allocations in these target-date funds vary widely, of course, mirroring variances in the glide path philosophies that underpin them (see “Invest-O-Matic,’ “FAAF: Glide Paths – Getting From Here to There’)—and those variances are most evident in the target-date fund closest to the target date. That’s also the place/time when workers are potentially most vulnerable to the fluctuations in the market, of course.

According to Target Date Analytics (TDA), the “raw” average year-to-date performance of the four largest 2010 funds (the ones for folks closest to retirement) at September 30: -13.73%.

The following are returns provided by TDA based on Morningstar data. The four funds listed hold about 90% of all the assets invested in 2010 funds, according to TDA. Their performance for the periods indicated is presented alongside the PLANSPONSOR On-Target Defensive Index (OTI), one of four new benchmarks for target-date funds released by PLANSPONSOR.

Fund & ticker4 wks3 monthsYTD12 months 3 yr
Fidelity 2010 (FFFCX) -6.92% -8.62% -12.95% -13.60% 1.46%
T. Rowe 2010 (TRRAX) -7.56% -8.11% -14.00% -14.93% 1.95%
Vanguard 2010 (VTENX) -6.06% -6.32% -11.23% -11.30% N/A
Principal 2010 (PTTIX) -8.23% -10.38% -16.72% -18.68% -0.65%
PLANSPONSOR OTI 2010 -2.90% -3.12% -0.81% 1.69% 5.14%


More information about the PLANSPONSOR On-Target Indexes is available at http://www.tdbench.com/IndexData.html

Deals & People October 2, 2008

NIVM Adds TPA to Stable

National Investment Managers (NIVM)., a retirement plan administration and investment management company, closed on the acquisition of Pension Technical Services, a third-party administrator (TPA).
Reported by

A news release from the Dublin, Ohio-based NIVM, said Pension Technical Services (that does business as Reptech Corp), serves more than 540 small and mid-size Southwest companies. Reptech, based in Denver, provides retirement plan design, administration, and consulting services.

According to the announcement, the acquisition was valued at approximately $3.5 million and will add approximately $600 million to NIVM’s assets under administration, which currently exceed $11 billion.

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With the addition of Reptech, NIVM now has operations in 15 states.

“We are very deliberate in the selection of platform businesses to anchor our entry into targeted markets, and Reptech brings all of the attributes essential for success: strong management, outstanding service, extraordinary expertise and a track record of growth and profitability,” said Steven Ross, CEO of National Investment Managers, in the news release.

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