The Hewitt 401(k) Index™ Observations - Hewitt Associates - Human Resources Consulting and Outsourcing - HR Outsourcing

2009	0.04%	1	60%
2008	0.09%	10	86%
2007	0.04%	5	40%
2006	0.04%	4	30%
2005	0.04%	2	80%
2004	0.07%	5	15%
2003	0.08%	2	67%
2002	0.05%	0	43%
2001	0.08%	3	43%
2000	0.11%	11	30%
1999	0.08%	7	58%
1998	0.05%	3	70%

January was a relatively quiet month with regard to participant transfer activities, according to the results of the Hewitt 401(k) Index™. On average, about 0.042% of 401(k) balances transferred on a net daily basis during the month — slightly lower than the trailing 12-month average of 0.052%. In addition, only one day of the month had above-normal* level of transfers.
Continuing the trend from last year, participants moved away from equity investments in January, although the scale of the movement was much smaller compared to last year. As the S&P 500 Index went down another 8% over the month, participant transfers were fixed income oriented during 60% of the days. A total of $79 million shifted from equities to fixed income investments during the month.
Balanced funds experienced the largest outflow for the month, with $69 million transferring out of this asset class. International funds had similar outflows with $68 million.
Interestingly, company stock funds received the largest inflow, $65 million, during the month. GIC/stable value and bond funds received inflows of $60 million and $40 million, respectively.
Largely due to market decline, participants' overall equity allocation went down from 52.9% at the end of December to 50.5% at the end of January — another historic low.
On the other hand, participant-only equity contribution, which is another measure of employee sentiment, actually ticked up slightly from 57.4% to 57.7% during the month of January.

*A "normal" level of relative transfer activity is when the net daily movement of participants' balances as a percent of total 401(k) balances within the Hewitt 401(k) Index equals between 0.3 times and 1.5 times the average daily net activity of the preceding 12 months. A "high" relative transfer activity day is when the net daily movement exceeds two times the average daily net activity. A "moderate" relative transfer activity day is when the net daily movement is between 1.5 and two times the average daily net activity of the preceding 12 months.

The following tables show Hewitt 401(k) Index statistics and the returns of major market indices for the month of January 2009:

Index Returns