Participants in 401(k) plans shifted $203 million to equities from fixed income in August, according to Hewitt’s 401(k) index.
Total equity allocations rose to 56.2% of all 401(k) assets from 55.3% in July, Hewitt Associates said in its monthly report. While equity allocations have increased steadily since February, the average is still well below the 62% of a year ago, the report noted.
Lifecycle funds received 32.1% of all inflows in August, or $147 million, while international funds received 17.6%, or $80 million. Stable value funds experienced the most outflows for the month at $299 million, representing 65.4% of all outflows. Since April, stable value funds have had outflows of nearly $1 billion, the report said.
According to Hewitt, 22% of participant-only contributions went into stable value funds, while 21.8% went into lifestyle funds and 16.9% went into large-cap U.S. equity funds. For overall contributions, 21.1% was invested in lifecycle funds, 20.3% was invested in stable value and 15.7% moved into large-cap U.S. equity funds.
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