401(k) Balances Improving, But Participants Still Need to Save More
By Randy Myers The average 401(k) account balance has improved significantly since the stock market downturn that ran from late 2007 to early 2009, but Americans still need to save more for retirement, according to Winfield Evans, leader of investment strategy for Aon Hewitt’s defined contribution outsourcing business. Participants in 401(k) plans enjoyed a median […]
Why Governmental 457 Plans Like Stable Value
By Randy Myers Stable value funds have long been popular with so-called “457” plans–supplemental retirement savings plans that function much like 401(k) plans but are marketed mostly to government employees. Still, there are steps the stable value industry could take to preserve its favored position in that marketplace, says Maryland Assistant Attorney General John Barry, […]
Stable Value Industry Urged to Articulate Risk Management Processes
By Randy Myers Stable value investment managers and wrap issuers devote huge chunks of their time to managing risk. Now it’s time to start documenting those efforts, says Susan Mangiero, managing director of Fiduciary Leadership LLC, an independent research and training company serving institutional investors. Regulatory and legal developments have much to do with the […]
How Asset Allocation Models Handle Stable Value Funds
By Randy Myers Given their hybrid nature–they generate returns comparable to those available from intermediate-term bond funds, but with low volatility similar to money market funds–stable value funds have never been particularly easy to account for in asset allocation models. But leading financial services firms appear to have found solutions that make them comfortable. Mutual […]
Public and Private Pension Plans Face Funding Gap
By Randy Myers Each year, researchers at investment consulting firm Wilshire Associates study the health of the nation’s largest public and private pension plans. Lately, their findings have been discouraging. “It’s not great,” Wilshire managing director James Neill told participants at the 2010 SVIA Fall Forum. “At the end of the last decade, things were […]
Stable Times Volume 15 Issue 2
The biannual publication of the Stable Value Investment Association that covers both industry concerns and association activities.
Stable Times Volume 15 Issue 1
The biannual publication of the Stable Value Investment Association that covers both industry concerns and association activities.
Stable Value Funds Seen Coping if Interest Rates Start to Rise
By Randy Myers The long downward trend in interest rates since the early 1980s has been beneficial to the stable value industry. Now, many economists believe that trend is in jeopardy, prompting questions about how the industry will respond. Declining rate environments favor stable value funds because their crediting rates—the actual earning rates posted to […]
JPMorgan Chase Teams with Barclays to Develop Stable Value Index
By Randy Myers While stable value funds emerged from the recent credit crisis relatively unscathed—none lost money and returns held well above those on money market funds—the crisis did have some fallout. Specifically, the market value of many stable value portfolios temporarily fell below book value during the crisis, prompting many wrap issuers to push […]