Vanguard Shows Us How America Invests
Vanguard Funds details how participants in their 401k plans invest.
Across the universe of Vanguard participants, 63% of eligible employees chose to enroll in their employer's voluntary savings program. This broader measure of plan participation has remained basically unchanged since 2000.
Vanguards participants' median account value was $23,811 at year-end 2004. The median balance represents the typical participant, as it reflects the balance of the middle or 50th percentile participant. Half of all participants have balances above the median; half have balances below.
This is a very interesting report (over 50 pages), we'll be giving some more data later this week.
Wise Owl
Plan investment options
Virtually all Vanguard DC plans offer an array of investment options covering the four major investment categories: equity, bond, balanced, and money market stable value fund options. The average number of plan options rose to 18 in 2004, but participants continue to adopt new choices at a slower rate than employers introduce them. Six in 10 plans offered life-cycle funds in 2004, with 26% of participants in these plans holding life-cycle funds. Only 29% of participants owning life-cycle funds used them as the intended “one-stop shopping” investment choice. Thirteen percent of plans offered company stock as an investment option. Because large firms are more likely to offer company stock, 44% of Vanguard participants had access to company stock in their employer’s plan. About one third of Vanguard plans offering company stock had a concentrated position exceeding 20% of plan assets. Within plans actively offering company stock, 44% of participants had concentrated holdings exceeding 20% of their account balances.
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