S&P Launches Industry's First Target Date Scorecard; Compares Target Date Fund Returns Versus Relative S&P Target Date Benchmark
NEW YORK, March 10, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Standard & Poor's, the world's leading index provider and publisher of the widely followed Standard & Poor's Index Versus Active Fund ("SPIVA") scorecard series, announced today that it has launched the industry's first comprehensive, periodic scorecard for target date mutual funds. The S&P Indices Target Date Scorecard provides performance comparisons, equal- and asset-weighted peer averages, and volatility comparisons for U.S. target date funds versus their relative S&P Target Date Index.
The S&P Target Date Index Series is comprised of nine multi-asset class indices, each corresponding to a particular target retirement date. The nine multi-asset classes include U.S. large cap, U.S. mid cap, U.S. small cap, international equities, emerging markets, U.S. REITs, core fixed income, short term treasuries, and TIPS.
Target date is a rapidly growing investment category and is particularly important in the defined contribution ("DC") retirement plan market, which accounts for over two-thirds of target date assets. The latest figures available from the Investment Company Institute ("ICI") for Q3 2010 put total assets in target date mutual funds at $306 billion, up from $232 billion in Q3 2009.
The S&P Target Date Scorecard shows that asset class exposure varies significantly among target date funds, which play out in the variance of fund returns. For example, 3-year annualized returns for funds in the 2015 category ranged from -6.8% to 2.6%, with the comparable benchmark returning 1.37% per year.
Data through December 31, 2010 also reveals that in the 1-, 3- and 5-year periods, the average returns of further dated target date funds generally lagged their relative S&P target date benchmark. The picture, according to the scorecard, is more mixed for closer-dated funds. Additionally, asset-weighted average returns for target date funds in each peer group tend to be somewhat higher than equal-weighted returns, indicating that the larger target date funds performed somewhat better than their smaller counterparts.
"Target date funds provide DC plan sponsors with a convenient way to offer professional money management, portfolio diversification and dynamic asset allocation in a single investment vehicle," says Phil Murphy, Vice President of Defined Contribution at S&P Indices. "In principle, target date funds are straightforward; however, plans are well-advised to fully understand how these products work and how each employs their selected target date strategy. One useful tool in doing so is the S&P Target Date Scorecard, which is the first to provide reporting on active target date fund performance versus their relative S&P Target Date Index."
A table detailing the percentage of funds outperformed by their relative S&P target date benchmark index can be found at the conclusion of this press release.
The S&P Target Date Scorecard is published semi-annually with a four to six week lag following year-end and the first six months of the year. The underlying data is obtained from Lipper U.S. Fund Database. For more details on the scorecard, please visit: www.spiva.standardandpoors.com or www.spindices.com/targetdate, Standard & Poor's micro site dedicated to defined contribution plan sponsor.
Table 1: Percentage of Target Date Funds Outperformed by Benchmark |
|||||
Category |
Comparison Index |
One Year (%) |
Three Year (%) |
Five Year (%) |
|
Ret Income Funds |
S&P Target Date Retirement Income |
62.86 |
39.13 |
57.89 |
|
Target 2010 Funds |
S&P Target Date 2010 |
53.33 |
58.33 |
69.23 |
|
Target 2015 Funds |
S&P Target Date 2015 |
56.25 |
77.27 |
81.82 |
|
Target 2020 Funds |
S&P Target Date 2020 |
74.36 |
93.10 |
87.50 |
|
Target 2025 Funds |
S&P Target Date 2025 |
71.43 |
77.78 |
77.78 |
|
Target 2030 Funds |
S&P Target Date 2030 |
74.36 |
86.21 |
87.50 |
|
Target 2035 Funds |
S&P Target Date 2035 |
74.07 |
72.22 |
77.78 |
|
Target 2040 Funds |
S&P Target Date 2040 |
77.50 |
76.67 |
84.21 |
|
Target 2045+ Funds |
S&P Target Date 2045+ |
75.41 |
66.67 |
57.14 |
|
Source: Standard & Poor's, Lipper. For periods ending December 31, 2010. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results. |
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About S&P Indices
S&P Indices, the world's leading index provider, maintains a wide variety of investable and benchmark indices to meet an array of investor needs. Over $1.25 trillion is directly indexed to Standard & Poor's family of indices, which includes the S&P 500, the world's most followed stock market index, the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, the leading measure of U.S. home prices, the S&P Global BMI, an index with approximately 11,000 constituents, the S&P GSCI, the industry's most closely watched commodities index, and the S&P National AMT-Free Municipal Bond Index, the premier investable index for U.S. municipal bonds. For more information, please visit www.standardandpoors.com/indices.
About S&P Target Date Indices
S&P Indices' target date benchmark series extends traditional representative indexing into the growing target date fund universe by establishing a new method for defining market consensus. For each target date, asset class allocations are drawn from a survey of publicly available target date glide paths from major asset managers. This representative indexing provides a fair and independent proxy of the market consensus in the target date universe. For more information, go to http://www.spindices.com/targetdate.
SOURCE Standard & Poor's
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