PortfolioDesignScan

Mylan 401k (PS) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2011

2012-02-15T08:41:00.000-08:00

The Mylan 401k Plan was not helped by company stock MYL the last 5 years. The Plan also changed Trustees and now has several SMA funds. The Plan income options are very good and the Balanced portfolio invested almost all of the portfolio in them; a stable value fund SVF.hpx in the scan and two bond funds PTTRX and VBMFX. The Merrill Lynch Retirement Preservation Trust is now controlled by the Bank of America National Association BANA in other Plans and I believe it is the case here too. I just went through that issue with another 401k Plan and used the Heuler stable value fund index in that scan. The company did a good job of documenting resent Plan changes; its the SMA equity options that did not perform well the last 5 years.

Oracle 401k (SIP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2011

2012-02-14T11:58:00.000-08:00

This year the Oracle 401k scan results may surprise a few. While company stock ORCL and the bond fund PTTRX have about the same return the last 5 years, 2011-2007, the Balanced portfolio invested only 3.7% in the stock because of its high volatility. The Balanced portfolio invested 21.7% in PTTRX and 26.2% in the Galliard stable value fund WFSVF in the scan. The 401k Plan changed a few investment options, Vanguard is now providing the Target Date Funds and a few other funds. The Oracle Plan is a little above average.

Valero Energy 401k (TP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2011

2012-02-13T06:28:00.000-08:00

The Trustee for the Valero Energy 401k Plan is now the Bank of American National Trust BANA. It was Merrill Lynch. The Plan SEC 11-k report still shows a Retirement Preservation Trust as its second largest holding. You may want to read the Federal Register Volume 76 Number 219 Monday November 14, 2011 Notes for a detailed risk analysis. I kept that Trust investment in the scan as the Heuler stable value fund index. Company stock VLO was down in 2011 and is not in the Balanced portfolio but it remains the largest holding in the employee portfolio. On a positive not the stock is up over 10% YTD.

Core Laboratories 401k (PSRP) PSDS Scan 12-31-2011

2012-02-10T07:02:00.000-08:00

Core Laboratories is an oil and gas services company based in the Netherlands with US operations in Houston. Company stock CLB continued to do well in 2011 and the 401k Balanced portfolio invested 8.3% of that portfolio in company stock. The employee portfolio invested 34.9% of their money in the stock. The top 2 holdings of both portfolios are CLB and the stable value fund SVF in the scan but with the Balanced portfolio is much more conservative by design. As you probably know my interest in doing these scans is employees in or near retirement.

United Technologies 401k (DC) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2011

2012-02-09T13:25:00.000-08:00

United Technologies company stock UTX was down 4.78% in 2011 and its 5yr APR dropped to 5.51% in this scan. That and a weak 2011 for many mutual funds reduced the Balanced portfolio APR to 4.83%. Last years scan reflected the Plans 2011 reduction of investment options from 19 to 9 and several other Plan changes. This scan's investment options are the same except for correcting GLD to AGG as it should have been last year. Gold was not one of the 5 core SSgA fund options but it is in my retirement portfolio.

Perrigo Co. 401k (PSIP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2011

2012-02-08T07:50:00.000-08:00

Perrigo is a global generic pharmaceutical company whose stock PRGO continues to soar. The Balanced portfolio this year invested 19.4% of the portfolio in company stock; that is more than the employees invested in the stock. Their 3 largest holdings are PTTRX. MACGX and PRGO at 11% of Plan. The Balanced portfolio also invested 16.9% in VIPSX and that makes me a little less nervous about the surprisingly large investment in PRGO. This is a good 401k with several excellent investment options and one extraordinary company stock the last 5 years.

Whirlpool 401k (RP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2011

2012-02-07T07:26:00.000-08:00

It has been 2 years since the last Whirlpool 401k scan and a lot has changed. The investment options are all Vanguard investments now and company stock WHR that has not done well the last 5 years. The Balanced portfolio has most of that portfolio in 3 income funds, VRST5 has 48.3%, VBMFX has 23.8% and the money market fund VMMXX has 17.0%. Compare that to the employee portfolio in the 3D scan image. If you are near retirement the employee portfolio has way too much volatility risk in my opinion. The Vanguard funds are not bad but 2011 and the last 5 years have not been kind to very many mutual funds.

Becton Dickinson 401k (SIP) PSDS Scan 12-31-2011

2012-02-06T07:47:00.000-08:00

Beckton Dickinson company stock BDX was down 9.61% in 2011 and the Balanced portfolio is now even more of a lifeboat portfolio than last year. In the scan Federal Reserve data was used to extend BIL to a 5yr data period and CWI is a proxy for the SSgA "ACWX" mutual fund. The largest holding of both the Balanced portfolio and the employee portfolio is the GIC. That about says it all for this year. The Plan could use a few "5 Star" equity investment options.

Alliance Data Systems 401k (RSP) PSDS Scan 12-31-2011

2012-02-03T07:36:00.000-08:00

Alliance Data Systems had a good 2011 and their 401k Plan Balanced portfolio invested 6.5% of the Plan in company stock ADS, more than the employee portfolio. Like the previous scan for Amazon's 401k the Plan equity options did not do well the last 5 years. In the Alliance Data Systems 401k Plan none of their Plan equity options have any money invested in them because they do not have positive 5yr Sharpe ratios. This may happen a lot this year, company stocks outperforming their Plan equity options the last 5 years because 2011 was not a good year for most mutual funds.

Amazon 401k (SP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2011

2012-02-02T07:53:00.000-08:00

This year the Amazon 401k Plan scan includes company stock which has a positive 5yr Sharpe ratio. The stock however is very volatile as Mr. Market demonstrated again this week. The Balanced portfolio invested 15.2% of that portfolio in the stock and the rest in PTTRX at 63.6%, VTINX at 20.8% and less than 1% in VEXPX. Company stock is the largest holding of the employee portfolio according to the US DoL Form 5500 filing. This 401k Plan with company stock will be a contender for one of the Top 401k Plan spots next year. Interesting to me is the 3D scan image which has 2 lifeboats; one dominated by income funds only and one with company stock AMZN which has the highest Sharpe ratio 0.68. That does not happen often and usually the lifeboat portfolio without equity options has the highest Sharpe ratio.

Compass Minerals Intl. 401k (SP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2011

2012-02-01T10:47:00.000-08:00

Compass Minerals Intl. 401k still has an above average 5yr APR of 6.76% in spite of company stock CMP having a bad year in 2011; it was down minus 20.9%. Even so CMP has a 5yr APR of 19.7% with a positive Sharpe ratio of 0.65. It is the only equity investment option in the Balanced portfolio. That is not good. The employee portfolio has lots of money in Target Date Retirement funds that are still trying to recover from 2008. FFFAX is a retirement income fund not a Target Date fund. In that same recovery mode are the S&P500 and FUSEX that have both been disappointments the last 5 years. This 401k Plan was the top rated plan the last two years with only one equity option CMP in the Balanced portfolio. Interesting.

General Dynamics 401k (SSIP.5) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2011

2012-01-31T09:29:00.000-08:00

General Dynamics stock GD did not have a good year in 2011 and it is not in the Balance portfolio but it is the largest holding in the employee portfolio.The Balanced portfolio remains a lifeboat portfolio with only income funds having more than 5% of Plan. The best equity option this year was US Technologies IYT in the scan but it was only 2.2% of that portfolio. The Plan did win a law suit over fund fees and that money should help a bit. There is not much more to say.

PolyOne 401k (RSP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2011

2012-01-30T10:19:00.000-08:00

The PolyOne 401k has a Balanced portfolio with an APR of 6.41% and a Sharpe ratio of 1.24 thanks to a strong collection of income funds. Company stock POL is in the Balanced portfolio but at less than 5% of Plan. The Plan also has a little Dow Chemical stock indicating it may have been a spin off. The last 5 years have not been kind to most Plan equity options and PolyOne is no exception. As a retiree the Balanced portfolio APR of 6.41% with very little risk is not so bad.

Nicor (Birdsall) 401k (RSP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2011

2012-01-27T06:11:00.000-08:00

Nicor and AGL Resources merged in late 2011 with the NYSE ticker symbol changed to GAS the old Nicor stock symbol. Nicor owned several companies prior to the merger and Birdsall Inc. was one of them. This scan is for the Nicor (Birdsall) 401k Plan. It contains mostly Vanguard investment options and they are the "party at interest" options in the SEC 11-k report. Company stock GAS is in the Balanced portfolio but at only 2.6% of Plan. That portfolio 5yr APR of 4.96% is a little below the average for 401k Plans. The employee portfolio is a "best effort" sorting out of the SEC 11-k report data in light of merger changes.

Intel 401k (SP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2011

2012-01-26T06:16:00.000-08:00

The Intel 401k Plan has about 50 investment options and 48 are in the scan this year. That is too many for the average employee to evaluate even just once a year. The Intel Plan as you know if you visit this site often has been a Top performer in spite of the Balanced portfolio not being helped by company stock INTC. The scan posted today using 12-31-2011 5yr Market data has only 8 investment options with over 5% of Plan assets. They are all income options. The employee portfolio's largest holdings are all equity funds; INTC at 9% of Plan, FCNTX at 7.7% and FLPSX at 7.3%. That suggests to me that employees near or in retirement may want to consider adding a few income options like PGOVX to balance their equity dominated portfolios.

Stanley Black & Decker 401k (VP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2011

2012-01-25T06:50:00.000-08:00

Stanley Black & Decker's 401k Balanced portfolio's 5yr APR was not helped as much this year as last by company stock SWK. In 2011 SWK's total return was only 3.54% according to Morningstar and the Balanced portfolio's APR was down to 4.86%. The employee portfolio has over 50% of the Plan in company stock. Their 5yr APR is 5.43% but with much higher volatility. All in all a good Plan that is a little below last years in terms of Balanced portfolio performance.

2011 Top 401k Plans Balanced Portfolios

2012-01-24T06:29:00.000-08:00

Compass Minerals International repeated this year as top 401k Plan led by company stock CMP producing a Balanced portfolio with a 5yr APR of 15.3% and an amazing 5yr Sharpe ratio of 3.26. Intel also repeats as a top performer again in second place with a very good 5yr Balanced portfolio without company stock. That is even more amazing in my opinion. New Jersey Resources, TERADATA and Range Resources round out the Top 5 performers with NJR and TDC new to the list this year. Although not a company 401k Plan the ProVise Management group in Florida had a model early retirement portfolio that was published in the WSJ on October 5th of 2011 worth considering and of course Stanton & Castleton has retirement portfolios (not just mine) worth considering too.

ONEOK, Inc. 401k (TP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2011

2012-01-19T12:13:00.000-08:00

The ONEOK 401k Plan Balanced portfolio invested 8.95% of that portfolio in company stock OKE. This is a US natural gas company operating in the Midwest mostly. The employee portfolio invested 42.8% of Plan in the stock, too much for a retiree but it continues to do well. The 401k Plan has few investment options but they include PTTRX and a stable value fund that are over 80% of the Balanced portfolio. This is a small plan helped by a very good company stock the last 5 years.

Boeing 401k (VIP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2011

2012-01-18T15:18:00.000-08:00

Boeing's 401k Plan Balanced portfolio was not helped by company stock this year because it has a negative 5 year Sharpe ratio. The stock BA was up 15% in 2011 but it was up 28% in 2007 and the 5yr APR came down in spite of a good 2011. That can be confusing. In the scan the stable value fund is still FUNDG and the investment options in the scan are the same as last year with 2 exceptions. The short-term investment option is SHY and the global equity option is VHGEX. These are better proxies than STIF and WGEF used last year in my opinion. All in all a good plan but company stock BA is still recovering from 2008.

Church & Dwight 401k (SPSP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2011

2012-01-17T07:46:00.000-08:00

Church & Dwight had another good year in 2011 and their 401k Plan Balanced portfolio now has a 5yr APR of 8.0% with a Sharpe ratio of 2.22. Extraordinary. The employee portfolio's largest holding at over 40% of Plan is company stock CHD. Too much for a retiree in my opinion. I have CHD in my Stanton & Castleton IRA but only about 5% of Plan. This 401k also has several good equity funds like NBGNX and the PIMCO bond fund PTTRX. There is not much more to say. A good Plan and a very good company stock the last 5 years and longer.

My Stanton & Castleton IRA 12-31-2011 PSDS Scan

2012-01-13T08:59:00.000-08:00

This is the first scan posted using 12-31-2011 5yr Market Data from Thomson-Reuters. It is for my year-end changes to last years portfolio. The two stocks last year MCD and CHD helped performance and reduced risk so well I added two more OXY and CAT. They were both on sale late last year with low PEG ratios in fact CAT's was only 0.59 when I bought it and they pay a nice dividend. Berkshire Hathaway stock does not yet pay a dividend (I am still hoping) and it does not have a positive 5yr Sharpe ratio. It is not in the Balanced portfolio but it remains in my portfolio. Sharpe ratio is a good tool but in this instance I decided to over rule the tool, accept the volatility risk and keep the stock for my Grandchildren. No surprise there.

Texas Instruments 401k (SP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2012-01-12T10:13:00.000-08:00

I have little new information since the last scan for the Texas Instruments 401k in August 2010. After looking at a few court documents I decided to replace STIF with NOFIX the Northern Trust fixed income fund. The Balanced portfolio is still a lifeboat portfolio with over 90% of the Plan in just two funds NOFIX and BBPAX both income funds. I ran scans with and without Target Date Funds and they made almost no difference in the Balanced portfolio 5yr APR of 5.31%. Company stock TXN has a negative 5yr Sharpe ratio and by rule is not in the portfolio because of the stock's high volatility. This is a good company but the 401k Plan needs work. The retirement committee may want to check out Intel's 401k or other Top Ten 401k Plans posted on this site.

Trinity Industries Inc. 401k (PSP) PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2012-01-11T15:54:00.000-08:00

Trinity Industries 401k Plan changed Trustees in 2010 to JP Morgan and almost all of the Fidelity fund options were changed to JP Morgan funds. In the scan Fidelity funds were used for the 2 Target Date Retirement options instead of JSRAX and JTTIX which do not yet have 5yr market data. The Balanced portfolio was not helped by company stock TRN which has a small negative 5yr APR. The Balanced portfolio 5yr APR of 5.71% is about average for 401k Plans with a 5yr Sharpe ratio of 1.28. All in all a pretty good 401k but the stock has not done well the last five years.

Standard & Poor's 401k (S&PS) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2012-01-10T15:30:00.000-08:00

Standard & Poor's 401k savings and profit sharing plan for represented employees has McGraw-Hill Companies common stock MHP and 11 other investment options. The Plan trustee is Northern Trust and I used their funds for Plan category investment options as available. The Balanced portfolio is a lifeboat portfolio with over 90% of the Plan in just three options; a stable asset fund SVF.nti in the scan, a GIC and a money market fund VMMXX for NORXX. The employee portfolio asset allocation is my best effort after a reading of the SEC 11-k report and the Form 5500 report. As the charts show the Balanced portfolio 5yr APR is a bit below average and the Sharpe ratio is way above average because the Northern Trust Stable Asset Fund has a very high 5yr Sharpe ratio of 10.3. Interesting.

Eaton Corp. 401k (SP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2012-01-09T15:23:00.000-08:00

The Eaton 401k Balanced portfolio made a small improvement over last year but is still below average. This Plan has better income options than equity options. Company stock ETN is the best equity option for the last 5 year period but both the Balanced portfolio and the employee portfolio invested less than 5% of Plan in the stock. That's not good. In my opinion the retirement plan committee needs to consider making a few changes to strengthen the equity options in this 401k Plan.

Cameron International 401k Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2012-01-07T08:32:00.000-08:00

Cameron International acquired NATCO in 2009 and in 2010 changed the Plan trustee to T. Rowe Price. These changes and others complicated the SEC 11-k report and I did not have time to sort them all out. No employee portfolio, only a uniform portfolio is provided here for comparison with the Balanced portfolio. The Balanced portfolio was helped by company stock CAM which is still the largest employee holding I think. The Balanced portfolio has a 5yr APR of 6.53% with a Sharpe ratio of 1.30 both above average. Like many plans there are too many investment options for the average employee to evaluate in my opinion. That can lead to investing by fund name "conservative growth" instead of fund risk adjusted performance.

Airgas Inc. 401k Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2012-01-05T08:01:00.000-08:00

The Airgas 401k Plan has all Vanguard investment options and company stock ARG which is in the Balanced portfolio. Among the Vanguard options are a stable value fund VRST and a money market fund VMMXX which are the two largest holdings of the Balanced portfolio. This is a pretty conservation 401k Plan. My only suggestion would be to consider adding a Vanguard sector fund like VEIEX but the Plan is just fine with the current options for most.

Eastman Chemical 401k (ESOP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2012-01-04T08:58:00.000-08:00

The Eastman Chemical 401k continues to be helped by company stock EMN and the Balanced portfolio this year has a 5yr APR of 5.26% with 4.4% of the portfolio invested in company stock. That stock is the largest holding at 12.6% of the employee portfolio. At the category level according to the SEC 11-k report the Plan asset allocation is as shown below and I do not think the Managed Income investment is participant directed.

Managed Income 41.6% (FMIP)
Mutual Funds 44.7% (Mostly Fidelity Funds)
Company Stock 12.6% (EMN)
Self Directed Accounts 1.1% (PCRAs and cash)

All in all a pretty good 401k Plan with good domestic equity options and the always popular PTTRX bond fund. This scan is still using 12-31-2010 Market data. I should have 12-31-2011 data in a week or two.

2011 401k Design Scans Quick Look Data

2012-01-03T08:26:00.000-08:00

Last year I was late in getting the 2010 Top 10 401k Plan data posted for the 280 401k Plans scanned. This year I decided to post "quick look" data for the Top 10 401k Plans in the form of a design scan for just those 10 plans Balanced portfolios and compare that data to the Hewitt Index portfolio design scan posted in January 2010. As you might expect the Top 10 portfolios and the Hewitt Index portfolio have similar Balanced portfolio returns but with lower volatility if you assume the 401k portfolios are independent. I very much doubt that because PTTRX, for example, is in almost all of them. Also, as a reminder of how important rebalancing is the top 401k Plan the last two years was from Compass Minerals International but their stock CMP had a poor 2011 and is unlikely to repeat again in 2012.

Cummins Inc. 401k (RSP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-12-30T07:32:00.000-08:00

The Cummins 401k Plan has been helped tremendously by company stock CMI the last 5 years. They are an Indiana manufacturer of engines used in many industries around the world and their stock has a 5yr APR of 39.2% with a Sharpe ratio of 0.476 in spite of high volatility. Remarkable. The Balanced portfolio has a 5yr APR of 9.16% with a Sharpe ratio of 0.73 and that puts this 401k Plan way above average. Happy New Year everyone.

PG&E Corp. 401k (RSP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-12-29T07:10:00.000-08:00

The PG&E 401k Plan made several changes since the last scan in 2009. They replaced asset allocation funds with Target Date Retirement funds and added a few new core investment options. As I read the 11-k report they also replaced the complicated stable value fund option with a money market fund in August 2011. The Plan continues to be helped by company stock PCG and the Balanced portfolio invested 11.8% of that portfolio in the stock. Like last year this conservative plan Balanced portfolio 5yr return, 4.58%, is a little below average. Company stock is still the best equity option in the Plan in my opinion.

Manitowoc 401k (RSP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-12-28T07:07:00.000-08:00

The Manitowoc 401k has several good investment options but company stock MTW was not one of them the last 5 years. It was a victim of volatility with a 5yr average return of 33.6% but an annualized return of only 1.42% as volatility killed compounding once again. The Balanced portfolio has a 5yr return that is about average with a Sharpe ratio of 1.38. However, as you can see it is a lifeboat portfolio with only 3 investment options having more than 5% of Plan and they are all income investment options. There is not much more to say.

Williams Companies 401k (IPP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-12-27T08:43:00.000-08:00

The Williams 401k Plan was not helped by company stock WMB the last 5 years but still had a slightly above average Balanced portfolio return with a 5yr APR of 6.08% and a Sharpe ratio of 1.38. That portfolio's three largest holdings were PTTRX, the Fidelity stable value fund FMIP2 and FFFAX the Fidelity Freedom Income Fund. Target Date Retirement Income Funds have out performed all the Target Date Funds in every Plan I have scanned (several hundred) but employees invest very little in them. If you are near retirement I suggest you pay more attention to fund performance than fund name.

EQT Corp. 401k (SPP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-12-26T09:58:00.000-08:00

The EQT 401k Plan Balanced portfolio improved a little over last year but the stock EQT 5yr APR went down a bit. The Balanced portfolio 5yr APR of 7.0% with a Sharpe ratio of 1.27 is above average and the largest holding is the bond fund PTTRX. The employee portfolio's 3 largest holdings were company stock EQT, the stable value fund FMIP2 in the scan and an equity fund AGTHX. There were no big changes to the Plan options over last year. A good plan and a pretty good but not great company stock.

State of Texas 401k (457) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-12-23T05:42:00.000-08:00

The Texas 401k (457) Plan closed its stable value fund option to new investments in 2009 and it is not in the scan this year. The Balanced portfolio's three largest holdings are the money market fund VMMXX in the scan, a bond index fund AGG and a target date retirement fund WOTDX. I have no information on employee asset allocation and posted a uniform portfolio for comparison purposes. The Balanced portfolio 5yr APR is 4.86% a little below average again this year. The Plan might consider a good Sector fund like an emerging market or commodity investment option.

2011 Sharpe Stock Portfolio PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-12-21T10:37:00.000-08:00

This year two stocks MCD and CHD carried my portfolio while BRK and the Mutual Funds were off their 2010 highs. In 2011 YTD they out performed GLD too, Merry Christmas everyone.

Energen Corp. 401k (ESP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-12-20T12:23:00.000-08:00

The Energen 401k Plan was last scanned in 2008. The employee portfolio now has 46.6% of their money invested in company stock EGN. The Balanced portfolio has only 2% in the stock because it is very volatile and that kills compounding. The 5yr average APR for EGN is 16% but the annualized 5yr APR is only 7% and the Sharpe ratio is 0.094. The investment options are still all Vanguard funds the Balanced portfolio is a little below average with a 5yr APR of 4.75% and a Sharpe ratio of 1.15. A pretty good plan and company stock is above average but volatile.

Ecolab Inc. 401k (SP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-12-19T11:55:00.000-08:00

The Ecolab 401k Balanced portfolio was helped a little by company stock ECL and it invested 3.9% of the portfolio in the stock. That stock is the largest holding by far in the employee portfolio. In the scan proxies for the SSgA Target Date Funds were used that have 5yr market data. They were FFFAX and FFFCX from Fidelity. There are several good investment options in the Ecolab 401k and company stock has done well the last five years.

United Technologies 401k (DC) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-12-17T10:12:00.000-08:00

Effective 1-1-2011 United Technologies overhauled its two 401k Plans and cut the number of investment options from 19 to 9. They also replace Fidelity with Aon Hewitt and switched to index investment options instead of mutual funds making plan simplicity a high priority. State Street Global Advisiors now manages 5 core funds that are all index funds. After reading the SEC 11-k report and other sources I think these 9 options in the scan are representative;

SSgA Core Index Funds - SPY, IWV, MDY, DIA, GLD (or AGG)
SSgA Target Date Funds - LTAIX, etc.
AllianceBernstein Asset Allocation Index - ACG
Stable Value Fund - SVF.hpx (Heuler Index)
Company Stock - UTX

The GLD option is my choice for a currency index but most would probably use AGG or another income index fund. Its Xmas time. The Balanced portfolio APR of 9.39% changes to 5.17% if you use AGG instead of GLD. All in all a good 401k plan but very different from last year and still helped by company stock.

BorgWarner 401k (RSP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-12-16T05:30:00.000-08:00

The BorgWarner 401k Balanced portfolio got a big lift from company stock BWA this year. It was up 117% in 2010 according to Morningstar. That produced a 5yr Balanced return just over 6% and the employee portfolio 5yr APR was 7.73% as Detroit rebounded. This 401k Plan has very few investment options and the Blackrock US Debt Index, FUNDF in the scan, is one of them. It is also in the US Government 401k (TSP) Plan and it is the largest holding in the BorgWarner Balanced portfolio. All in all a good small plan and a very good stock the last five years.

PACCAR 401k (SIP) Plan PSDS Scan 21-31-2010

2011-12-15T07:39:00.000-08:00

The PACCAR 401k Balanced portfolio was helped by company stock PCAR again this year and it remains a volatile stock with an off the chart STD of 41.11%. The stock is still the largest holding of the employee portfolio by far with the next two largest holdings being FCNTX and the stable value trust fund FMIP2. There were a few changes in the Plan investment options and one of them, FASIX, is in the Balanced portfolio at 8.6% of the portfolio. PTTRX remains the largest holding. A good plan and a good but volatile company stock.

APTARGROUP 401k (PSSP) PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-12-13T07:49:00.000-08:00

The APTARGROUP 401k Balanced portfolio invested 13% of the Plan in company stock ATR this year. It did very well in 2010 and has a 5yr APR of 14.4% with a 5yr Sharpe ratio of 0.526. There were very few changes in investment options and the scan this year included the Fidelity stable value trust fund FMIP. The Balanced portfolio 5yr APR of 6.41% is above average. This is a good 401k Plan helped by company stock this year.

IRA 2012 Portfolio Design Study 12-31-2010 Data

2011-12-12T10:29:00.000-08:00

This is a work in progress and will change during year end testing. The Blog is a convenient way to interact with others involved in the review process.

A Reed Elsevier Roth 401k Rollover Portfolio Scan 12-31-2010

2011-12-10T14:09:00.000-08:00

The Reed Elsevier US Salary Investment Plan has a Roth 401k Rollover Elections form on the Web. It caught my attention and here is a portfolio design scan for those Elections or a proxy if they do not yet have 5yr data. In the scan only the Target Date Funds, Income and 2020 are in the scan for the usual reasons, they are highly correlated by design. Many 401k Plans limit participants to one or two TDFs for the same reason. In the scan the US Government 401k (TSP) Target Date Funds for Income & 2020 are proxies.

SSgA Yield Enhanced Fund...................................SSHYX
SSgA Bond Market Index Fund.............................SSBMX
SSgA Target Retirement Income Fund....................L-inc
SSgA Target Retirement 2020 Fund........................L2020
Dodge & Cox International Fund......................DODFX
SSgA S&P 500 Index Fund..............................SVSPX
Domini Social Equity Fund.......................................DSEFX
SSgA Russell 2000 Index Fund................................IWM
Hartford Midcap HLS Fund.....................................HIMCX
Smith Barney Large Cap Growth..............................TLGUX
American Funds Fundamental Investors Fund...........ANCFX
SSgA Emerging Markets Fund.................................SSEMX
Hartford Small Company HLS Fund.........................MDY
SSgA Daily EAFE....................................................EFA
American Funds New Perspectives...........................ANWPX

The Balanced portfolio by rule only contains investment options with a positive 5yr Sharpe ratio and a few funds like DSEFX have 0% invested in them. The Balanced portfolio 5yr APR is 6.62% which is above average but the STD volatility risk is probably too high for some retirees. I found this rollover form an efficient and interesting way to define Roth 401k options for employees.

Marsh & McLennan 401k (SIP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-12-03T09:08:00.000-08:00

The Masrsh & McLennan 401k was last scanned in 2008. Since then the Balanced portfolio has improved to a 5yr APR of 5.41% with a Sharpe ratio of 2.01 and it is still a lifeboat portfolio. It has over 70% invested in the GIC and the bond fund PTTRX. The employee portfolio includes money in company stock MMC and a large GIC. According to the SEC 11-k report those two options amounted to 0.5% of a large Master Trust that holds money for several retirement plans. I included those two investment options in the scan this year. The employee portfolio's largest holding is collectively the LifePath Target Date funds represented by STLAX and STLCX in the scan. That is a trend I see more often in 401k plans now. All in all a good Plan but not a very good company stock the last 5 years.

Cytec Industries 401k (ESP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-12-02T06:34:00.000-08:00

The Cytec 401k Plan was not helped by company stock CYT which has a 5yr APR of 3.05% and a barely positive Sharpe ratio of 0.004. Cytec is large specialty chemicals company that also makes composite materials for Boeing and other aerospace companies. The Plan is small and Vanguard is the trustee I think. The SEC 11-k report only provided investment options at the category level and I used Vanguard funds mostly in the design scan. The Balanced portfolio three largest holdings are VRST the stable value fund, a bond fund VBIIX and VBINX a balanced fund. The employee portfolio largest holdings are company stock CYT, VRST and VBINX. A good plan and a company that provides specialty materials and processes to several industries.

Travelers 401k (SP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-12-01T06:31:00.000-08:00

The Travelers 401k (SP) Plan Balanced portfolio's performance improved over last year but remains a conservative lifeboat portfolio. It has most of the Plan in a GIC and two income funds PTTRX and VRST a stable value trust fund. The GIC is also the largest holding of the employee portfolio followed by two equity funds VINIX and AGTHX. Company stock TRV has a 5yr APR of 6.94% with a Sharpe ratio of 0.29 and it is in both the Balanced and employee portfolios. This insurance company 401k Plan is conservative with a good company stock the last 5 years.

Blackstone Audio 401k (PCRA) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-11-30T06:45:00.000-08:00

This 401k (PCRA) Plan is by design aggressive and that shows in the 3D scan image this year. The aggressive funds did not have a good 2010 and the income fund options did which jerked the Balanced portfolio back to a lower risk asset allocation. That is what the Sharpe ratio is designed to do and it works.
Year-to-date in 2011 the Balanced portfolio is beating the S&P 500 but the aggressive portfolio is not. Keeping the focus on 5yr performance is the norm for retirement plans but an aggressive portfolio is almost by definition a volatile portfolio and it needs to have solid income options for balance.

Invesco 401k Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-11-29T07:25:00.000-08:00

The Invesco 401k Plan Balanced portfolio improved significantly over last year thanks mostly to investment options that were not in the scan last year. The Plan is large with many investment options that have less than 1% of Plan invested in them and they were not in last years scan. Among them I noticed a gold fund and a PIMCO fund that were added to the scan this year. They helped increase the Balanced portfolio this year to a 5yr APR of 6.72% with a Sharpe ratio of 1.17. The employee portfolio still has very little invested in either of them with most of their money in Invesco mutual funds. Interesting.

Brinker International 401k (SP) PSDS Scan 12-31-201

2011-11-28T04:54:00.000-08:00

The Brinker International 401k Plan Balanced portfolio 5yr return has improved to an APR of 5.40% with a Sharpe ratio of 1.36. The last scan was in 2008. That portfolio's 3 largest holdings are PTTRX, FRTXX and VIPSX all income investment options. The largest employee portfolio holdings are FCNTX, AEPGX and NBGNX all good equity funds. Company stock EAT is still recovering from the big losses of 2008 and 2009 and stll has a negative 5yr APR. It is up year-to-date and just might be in the Balanced portfolio next year. In the scan the only Target Date funds are STSVX and FFFDX by rule to keep from distorting the standard deviation benefit. Many plans limit participants to one Target Date fund for the same reason, they are highly correlated by design.

Unilever NV 401k Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-11-25T08:04:00.000-08:00

The Unilever NV 401k Plan was helped a bit by company stock UN. Its has a 5yr APR of 10.36% but is volatile and has a Sharpe ratio of only 0.26. That kept the Balanced portfolio investment in the stock to 4.5% a little less than last year and it is only 3.75% of the hourly employee portfolio. The Vanguard Target Retirement funds are their largest holdings. The Balanced portfolio largest holding is still the GIC and it is the second largest employee holding. This a pretty good Plan and company stock in my opinion.

Mattel 401k (PIP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-11-23T06:29:00.000-08:00

The Mattel 401k Plan was definitely helped by company stock MAT which was up over 30% in 2010. The Balanced portfolio invested 10.1% of that portfolio in company stock and the employee portfolio had 4.3% in the stock. Interesting. Wells Fargo is the Plan trustee and most of the investment options are Wells Fargo funds. The top 3 holdings of the Balanced portfolio are the stable return fund WFSRF, the bond fund SSTBX and the Government bond fund PGOVX. This 401k is about average and the company stock is above average. The 3D scan image shows that well.

TERADATA 401k (SP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-11-22T07:40:00.000-08:00

The TERADATA 401k Balanced portfolio improved to an APR of 7.11% with a Sharpe ratio of 1.73. That's without the benefit of company stock TDC which is doing very well but does not yet have 5yr Market
data and so was not in the scan. The company was founded in 2007. The employee portfolio invested 6.7% of their portfolio in company stock but the scan employee portfolio does not reflect that. This 401k Plan made a few changes over last year. It is better diversified than most plans but does have a few weak options. None the less the Plan should be in the running for the list of top 401k plans in 2010.

Computer Sciences 401k (MAP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-11-21T06:56:00.000-08:00

The Computer Sciences 401k once again was not helped by company stock CSC. It was down in 2010, has a negative 5yr APR and by rule is not in the Balanced portfolio. Company stock is 17% of the employee portfolio and is their largest holding. The Balanced portfolio 5yr APR of 4.16% is below average but does have a positive Sharpe ratio of 1.80 thanks to the stable value fund and other income investment options. As the correlation chart shows the 401k equity options are have not done well the last five years largely because the S&P 500 has not done well the last five years. In the scan the SSgA Target Series Retirement funds are represented by the corresponding Vanguard fund that has 5yr Market data. That's all for now.

Verizon 401k (SP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-11-18T06:06:00.000-08:00

The Verizon 401k Plan was helped by company stock VZ, which had a very good year in 2010. The Balanced portfolio 5yr APR improved to 6.23% with a Sharpe ratio of 2.04. It invested 5.2% of the portfolio in company stock and the employee portfolio invested 27.7% in VZ. There were small differences in the Plan scan options this year; SIGVX instead of a money market fund was used for Cash equivalents. When the SEC 11-k report contains only category investment options it adds another layer of uncertainty to forecasting. The Plan trustee is Fidelity and most of the category options in the scan are Fidelity funds.

Goodrich Corp. 401k (ESP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-11-17T06:50:00.000-08:00

The Goodrich Corp. 401k Plan investment category options are Fidelity funds and collective trust funds. In the scan AWCX is represented by FDIVX, which has 5yr market data and all the Fidelity Freedom funds are represented by the 2020 fund FFFDX. Collectively the Freedom funds are 20.8% of the employee portfolio. This is now a strong trend in 401k Plans and Fidelity has worked to better diversify the Freedom funds in the last couple of years.

The Balanced portfolio has a 5yr APR of 5.93% with a Sharpe ratio of 0.75. Its three largest holdings are the stable value fund SVF.hpx in the scan, a bond fund FBIDX and company stock GR. This stock has a 5yr APR of 18.39% with a Sharpe ratio of 0.33 and it is 16.1% of the employee portfolio. All in all a good Plan with a well above average company stock the last 5 years.

Allegheny Technologies 401k Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-11-16T05:49:00.000-08:00

Allegheny Technologies files several 11-k reports every year. The scan this year is for "The 401k Plan" which is a little different from last years 401k scan. In this Plan the Self-directed accounts have different investment options and they are not in the scan.

The Balanced portfolio 5y APR at 4.61% is below average and the Sharpe ratio at 1.44 is above average. That is because the GIC is over 50% of the Balanced portfolio. Company stock ATI has a 5yr APR of 10.6% but is very volatile reducing the stocks Sharpe ratio to 0.089 and it is only 1.3% of the Balanced portfolio. In the scan VTXVX holds all the Target Date Funds to keep from distorting the standard deviation forecast. TDF funds are not diversified by design. The employee portfolio collective TDF funds holdings are more than the company stock ATI which is 12.5% of their portfolio. In my opinion anyone near retirement should have more in bond funds than this employee portfolio which has 5.3% collectively in VBMFX, VIPSX and VTINX. The Balanced portfolio has 27% invested in these funds.

AAII Model Mutual Fund Portfolio PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-11-15T05:17:00.000-08:00

The AAII Model Mutual Fund Portfolio was published in the November 2011 Journal (page 34) where the annual performance since 2003 can be found. As the scan shows all the funds have positive 5y Sharpe ratios and are in the Balanced portfolio. That portfolio has a 5yr APR of 8.53% with a Sharpe ratio of 0.70. The AAII Portfolio with market weighted asset allocation has about the same 5yr APR but with very a different asset allocation. That portfolio invested over 90% of it in the Fidelity Capital & Income fund FAGIX. Interesting.

The AAII Model Mutual Fund Portfolio has better 5yr performance than almost all the 401k plans scanned this year. It may be of interest to 401k Plan Investment Committees. Of course if you add a strong company stock to the portfolio things get even better. That is what I did for my in-retirement portfolio which has a 5yr APR of 12.91% with Sharpe ratio of 2.25 for the same 5yr period.

General Dynamics 401k (SSIP-5.0) PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-11-14T06:27:00.000-08:00

General Dynamics 401k Plan has four plan groups with the same investment categories but different SEC 11-k reports. The SEC Reports are for Plans 5.0, 4.5, 3.0 and Represented Employees. This Scan is for the investment categories in the Master Trust and Plan 5.0 employee asset allocation.

Company Stock - GD
Equity Securities
    U.S. Companies
            Services - IYC
            Financials - IYF
            Technology - IYW
Guaranteed Investment Contracts
            Index - GIC.ekx
Common Collective Trusts
            Large cap U.S. equity market - BDVAX
            Small cap U.S. equity market - IWM (Russell 2000)
            U.S. Gov Short Term investments - GSTIF
Registered Investment Company - DODGX
Fixed Income Securities
            Corporate - LQD
            Government - SHY
Cash & Cash Equivalents - SIGVX

The Balanced Portfolio 5yr APR is 4.36% almost the same as last year and the portfolio is still a lifeboat portfolio with everything in the GIC and Fixed Income investments. The 3 largest holdings in the employee portfolio are company stock GD, the GIC and the Large cap U.S. equity market option BDVAX in the scan. As you can see in the 2D scan image U.S. Financials did poorly the last 5 years especially Banks

Arch Coal 401k (ETP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-11-11T06:30:00.000-08:00

The Arch Coal 401k Plan is small and was not helped by company stock ACI that has a negative 5yr APR and high volatility. The Balanced portfolio has a 5yr APR of 5.01% with a high Sharpe ratio of 1.88 because the stable value fund SVF.hpx in the scan is its largest holding. Of the 14 Plan investment options in the scan 6 have negative 5yr Sharpe ratios. That is not good. The income options are fine but the equity options need work. The only one in the Balanced portfolio is a Target Date Retirement fund STNRX.

Panera Bread 401k (SP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-11-10T06:42:00.000-08:00

The Panera Bread 401k investment options are well diversified and the Balanced portfolio has a 5yr APR of 6.00% with a Sharpe ratio of 1.30. Its three largest holdings are PTTRX a bond fund, FRTXX a Fidelity money market fund and FGOVX a Fidelity government income fund. The employee portfolio's largest holding is a collection of Target Date Retirement funds represented by FFTWX in the scan. Interesting. Their next two largest holdings are FRTXX and company stock PNRA that has a 5yr APR of 9.03% with a Sharpe ratio of 0.16. Nice but volatile. This is an above average 401k Plan and stock.

Costco Wholesale 401k (RP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-11-09T06:49:00.000-08:00

The Costco 401k scan this year has only two Target Date Funds (TDFs) in the scan, the Retirement Income Fund TRRIX and the TDF with the largest employee investment TRRDX. Many company 401k plans now limit participants to a single TDF and I too think that is prudent because keeping all the TDFs in the scan distorts the diversification forecast for participants. This year the Balanced portfolio has a 5yr APR of 5.52% with a Sharpe ratio of 1.32 an improvement over last year. The three largest holdings of the employee portfolio are company stock COST, the stable value fund SVF.hpx in the scan and PMEGX a mid-cap growth fund. All in all a good Plan and company stock the last 5 years.

Paychex Inc. 401k (IRP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-11-08T08:31:00.000-08:00

The Paychex 401k Plan has not been scanned before. Company stock PAYX pays a nice dividend but the stock total return 5yr APR is negative. The Balanced portfolio 5yr APR of 4.93% is little below average and its largest holdings are all bond funds and income options. In the scan the ClearCourse variable annuity is represented by the Wells Fargo Stable Return Fund, WFSRF. The largest equity holding STCSX is only 4.8% of the Balanced portfolio. Company stock PAYX is the largest holding of the employee portfolio which has a 5yr APR of 3.22%. The Plan could use a few new equity options in my opinion.

H.J. Heinz 401k (ERSP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-11-07T08:39:00.000-08:00

The H.J. Heinz 401k (ERSP) Plan has not been scanned before. The trustee is Bank of New York Mellon and the Plan has 16 investment options; 8 Vanguard, 2 Fidelity 4 from other Mutual Fund companies, company stock HNZ and a stable value fund FMIP in the scan. The Balanced portfolio 5yr APR is 7.01% with a Sharpe ratio of 1.07 both above average. The 401k Plan was helped by company stock HNZ that has a 5yr APR of 11.85% with a Sharpe ratio of 0.403. The Plan has no Target Date Retirement funds and does not need them in my opinion. It is a well designed 401k Plan with good equity and good income investment options but like all Plans there is room for improvement. I changed the 3D scan viewing angle for this scan for a research study of mine.

ConAgra Foods 401k (SP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-11-05T08:31:00.000-07:00

The ConAgra 401k Balanced portfolio's performance improved a little over last year and company stock CAG is 2.4% of the portfolio. Last year it was 0.0%. The SEC 11-k report does not include employee asset allocation data and a Uniform portfolio is provided for comparison purposes. The ConAgra 401k limits a participant's Target Date investment to one of the 12 Alliance Bernstein Target Date funds in the Plan. I think that is prudent given the highly correlated nature of these funds independent of the provider. Several 401k Plans have a similar rule. All things considered this is a good Plan that would be better if a few sector funds were among its equity options. Morningstar defines 8 sector categories from communications to utilities.

AGL Resources 401k (RSPP) PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-11-04T08:43:00.000-07:00

The AGL Resources 401k Plan was last scanned in 2008. The Balanced portfolio that year invested 93% of the Plan in the stable value fund and this year only 26.5%. Things are improving. Company stock AGL is still the largest holding of the employee portfolio at 35.2% of Plan but only 2.6% of the Balanced portfolio. Another big difference in the two portfolios is PTTRX, which has a 5yr APR over 8% and is 23.5% of the Balanced portfolio but less than 5% of the employee portfolio. Interesting. Employees near or in retirement may want to take another look at total return income funds. Morningstar and others have designed in-retirement portfolios that may be of interest.

Ameriprise Financial 401k Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-11-03T06:49:00.000-07:00

The Ameriprise 401k Plan Balanced portfolio has a 5yr APR of 4.39% and a positive Sharpe ratio of 0.94; a little below average but not too bad. That portfolio's three largest holdings are the stable value fund SVF.hpx in the scan, a money market fund WMMXX and a bond fund RDBIX. The employee portfolio's largest holding is company stock AMP, which has a nice 5yr APR over 8% but with high volatility. The Balanced portfolio only invested 2.8% of the Plan in the stock. There is not much more to say.

Peoples Financial 401k (PS) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-11-02T08:22:00.000-07:00

The Peoples Financial 401k was not helped by company stock PFBX. It has a 5yr APR of 0.0% as once again volatility kills compounding. The other investment options in the 401k are good and the Balanced portfolio has a 5yr APR or 5.89% with a Sharpe ratio of 1.27. That portfolio's largest holding is the stable value fund SVF.hpx in the scan. It is also the largest employee portfolio holding.

Dover Corp. 401k (RSP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-11-01T07:39:00.000-07:00

The Dover 401k plan Balanced portfolio is a little above average with a 5yr APR of 6.03% and a Sharpe ratio of 1.57. In the scan VBISX is a proxy for the RiverSource Trust income fund. On a 5yr annualized basis every 401k plan I have scanned, over 500, has a positive 5yr APR and so do most employee portfolios but not all. In most 401k s these two portfolios have similar APR's but with the employee portfolio having about twice as much volatility. That is usually because of company stock. The Dover employee portfolio fits that pattern as seen in the 2D scan chart.

Healthcare Services Group 401k (RSP) PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-10-31T07:06:00.000-07:00

The Healthcare Serices Group 401k plan is good, the stock HCSG has done well for years and it pays a nice dividend. The Balanced portfolio invested 6.1% of the portfolio in the stock and has an above average 5yr APR of 6.82% with a Sharpe ratio of 1.35. The only negative is the stock price which is high, way too high by Ben Graham standards today. The employee portfolio largest holding is the money market fund PNIXX and they have 6.8% of it invested in company stock about the same as the Balanced portfolio. Interesting.

Weatherford International 401k (SP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-10-29T10:05:00.000-07:00

In the last three years the Weatherford 401k Balanced portfolio 5yr APR has risen from 4.43% to 5,.44% and this year to 6.08%. The improvement was not driven by company stock WFT although a little of the stock is in the portfolio. This is a pretty volatile stock. Also, the Plan investment options have changed little. All this is an indication of a good plan with several equity investment options having rising Sharpe ratios. At the same time the stable value fund, VRST in the scan, has shrunk from 70% to 43% to 25% of Plan. Another positive 401k performance indicator.

Raytheon 401k (SIP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-10-28T07:20:00.000-07:00

The last Raytheon 401k scan was in 2008. This scan using 2010 market data has a Balanced portfolio 5yr APR of 6.11% with a Sharpe ratio of 2.01 both above average and about the same as antebellum 2008 performance. The Plan is large with over 30 investment options including company stock RTN which has done well the last 5 years compared to most. The employee portfolio invested 9.9% of Plan in the stock and the Balanced portfolio 1.1%. In the scan the Blackrock EAFE Equity Index is FUNDQ. All in all a good plan with above average performance the last 5 years.

Clorox 401k Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-10-27T07:50:00.000-07:00

The Clorox 401k Plan 11-k report and the Form 5500 report did not have all the information needed for a design scan. In cases like this I use the Hewitt 401k Index to complete the portfolio categories. The Form 5500 data indicate the plan trustee is T. Rowe Price and has other Plan information used for the scan

Hewitt 401k Index Category T. Rowe Price or Index Fund

Money Market ................................PRRXX
Stable Value ....................................SVF.hpx
International ....................................PRITX
Bond .............................................PRWBX
Balanced .......................................RPBAX
Lifestyle ..........................................TRRIX, TRRAX, etc.
Large US Equity ..............................PREIX
Mid US Equity ................................PRDMX
Small US Equity ...............................PRDSX
Emerging Market ..............................PRMSX
Sector .........................................PRNEX
Company Stock ..............................CLX

The scan Balanced portfolio has a 5y APR of 4.66% with a Sharpe ratio of 1.04. Company stock CLX helped a little but not enough to make the 5% or greater asset allocation this year for that portfolio. The employee portfolio has about 15% of the 401k invested in company stock. Again this scan represented missing investment option data using the Hewitt 401k Index dated August 2010 and T. Rowe Price funds.

Campbell Soup 401k (SSP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-10-26T08:41:00.000-07:00

The Campbell Soup 401k Balanced portfolio 5yr performance is about the same as last year a little below average. On a positive note the Fidelity stable value fund FMIP only has 5.4% invested in it this year and there are 6 investment options with over 5% of plan invested in them. Two of them FFFAX and FFFBX are Fidelity target date retirement funds. The employee portfolio largest holding by far is company stock CPB which has a 5yr APR of 5.96% with a small positive Sharpe ratio of 0.15.

A SharpeStockPortfolio PSDS Design Scan 12-31-2010

2011-10-25T07:48:00.000-07:00

3 year period

5 year period

10 year period

The scan of this Sharpe stock portfolio last year with 2009 market data is repeated here with 2010 market data again for 3yr, 5yr, and 10yr periods. One of the stocks did not have a good 2010 but most did and the Balanced portfolios all still have double digit period returns with Sharpe ratios greater than 1.0. I still own Berkshire Hathaway, Church and Dwight, and McDonald's and a few others in the Sharpe stock portfolio. Hope to see you next year about this time with the 2011 market data scans.

USC 401k (RSP) Vanguard Option PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-10-24T12:03:00.000-07:00

This is the second USC 401k Plan option scanned. The first was the Prudential option and this scan is for the Vanguard option. It has 75 investment options way too many for most investors to evaluate and rebalance on a regular basis. Funds without positive 5yr Sharpe ratios are not in the scan and a few redundant funds were eliminated too leaving 50 funds in the scan. The Balanced portfolio invested 5% or more of the Plan in only 6 funds with 31 funds having less than 2% invested in them. That's not a good portfolio either; still way too many funds to manage. If I were a plan participant there are only about 12 funds in the Vanguard 401k option that would be in my portfolio. Individual plan participants will differ on the 12 but you do not need 50 funds in your retirement portfolio.

New York Times 401k Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-10-22T08:06:00.000-07:00

The New York Times 401k employee portfolio has very little invested in company stock. The stock has a 5yr APR of -15.1% and is down -26.4% year-to-date. The Balanced portfolio has a 5yr APR of 5.45% with a Sharpe ratio of 1.09; its largest holdings are a stable value fund VRST4, a money market fund VMMXX, a bond fund DODIX and interestingly an emerging market value fund DFEVX. This is a good 401k plan with a troubled company stock. I am a long time subscriber of the paper and hope they find a way to keep publishing. I plan to keep reading.

Mine Safety Appliances 401k (RSP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-10-21T07:39:00.000-07:00

This companies 401k Plan was not helped by company stock MSA, which is still recovering from a bad 2008. The Plan has mostly Fidelity investment options and a good Balanced portfolio 5yr APR of 5.20% with a Sharpe ratio of 1.20. That portfolios largest holdings are bond funds and a Fidelity stable value fund FMIP2 in the scan. The employee portfolio's largest holdings are FMIP2 and FCNTX with very little invested in MSA. All in all a good plan and a company stock that may be undervalued in my opinion.

WellPoint 401k (RSP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-10-20T09:05:00.000-07:00

WellPoint made several changes to its 401k Plan investment options and they are almost all Vanguard funds now. One of the changes removed PTTRX and added VBMFX and VIPSX. The Balanced portfolio this year has about the same 5yr performance but with different funds. Company stock WLP was down in 2010 and now has a negative 5yr APR of -6.6%. It is still over 5% of the employee portfolio. Their 3 largest holdings are the money market fund VMMXX, the Institutional index fund VINIX and the bond fund VBMFX. They are also 2 of the largest holdings of the Balanced portfolio and that rarely happens.

Harris Corp. 401k (RP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-10-19T06:22:00.000-07:00

The Harris 401k Plan Balanced portfolio has less than 5% invested in company stock HRS this year compared to over 16% in 2009. The scan now includes several Blackrock LifePath funds and one of them STLAX is the third largest holding in the portfolio this year. The employee portfolio investments greater than 5% of plan are IWD, AGG, EFA, STVSX and SPY in the scan. The plan trustee is Northern Trust and the ETFs are the index for NT collective funds in the 401k. The 11-k report is complicated. Overall the Plan is average and the 11-k report could improve its description of Plan investment options in my opinion.

Brigham, Inc. 401k Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-10-18T06:29:00.000-07:00

The Brigham 401k Plan Balanced portfolio has an above average return even without the recent stock price surge after a buyout offer was announced. The company is in the oil and gas exploration business in the US. That portfolio invested more than 5% of the 401k in 8 investment options but BEXP was not one of them because of its very high volatility. The 3 largest holdings were the bond fund PTTRX, the money market fund SWIXX and the global fund SGOVX. The employee portfolio largest holding by far was company stock BEXP with PTTRX and SWIXX the second and third largest holdings. This may be one of those rare times when sage advice about not investing too much in company stock is called into question.

Limited Brands, Inc. 401k (SRP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-10-14T05:34:00.000-07:00

Limited Brands 401k in 2008 had only 2 funds in the Balanced portfolio and company stock was not one of them. Two years later company stock LTD has a 5yr APR of 12.7% with a Sharpe ratio of 0.155 and the Balanced portfolio has a 5yr APR of 5.11% and a Sharpe ratio of 1.74. Things are looking up. That said the 2010 Balanced Portfolio only invested 2.0% in company stock and most of the equity options have below average 5yr returns. The Balanced portfolio's 3 largest holdings are the GIC, the bond fund PTTRX and a short-term income fund SSTBX in the scan. The employee portfolio's largest holding is company stock.

Timken Co. 401k (SIPP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-10-13T07:42:00.000-07:00

There are many Timken 401k plans with SEC-11k reports. This scan is for the Savings and Investment Pension Plan (SIPP). The Balanced portfolio invested 3.5% of the portfolio in company stock TKR and the employee portfolio has almost 10 times that at 30.5% their largest holding by far. A good stock the last 5 years but very volatile. The 3 largest holdings of the Balanced portfolio are the stable value fund SVF.hpx in the scan, the JP Morgan core bond fund OBOCX and the Vanguard retirement income fund VTINX. That portfolio has a 5yr APR of 5.00% with a Sharpe ratio of 1.11, about average for 401k plans.

Salesforce 401k Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-10-12T07:03:00.000-07:00

The Salesforce 401k Plan does not include company stock CRM which has done very well the last 5 years. The Balanced portfolio of this mostly Fidelity plan has a 5yr APR of 5.03% with a Sharpe ratio of 1.0, about average for the 401k plans scanned the last few years. I have no information on employee asset allocation. The Plan does not have a stable value fund and the bond fund FBIDX is the largest holding of the Balanced portfolio which invested some money in all the Plan options.

AT&T 401k (SSP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-10-11T06:24:00.000-07:00

The last AT&T 401k scan in 2008 was for their RSP plan, they have several 401k plans. This year the scan is for their SSP plan , which has only 7 investment options. Most are from Barclay Global Investors and four are virtually the same as Barclay funds in the US Government 401k TSP Plan; FUNDC, FUNDF, FUNDI and FUNDS. They are used in the scan along with GIC.ekx for the Interest Income Fund and MALOX for the Global Equity Fund. The SSP Balanced portfolio 5yr APR is 5.31% with a Sharpe ratio of 2.38 and the Balanced portfolio for the TSP plan scanned earlier had a 5yr APR equal 5.24% and a Sharpe ratio of 2.91. An interesting 401k design strategy, low cost and about average 5yr performance. If AT&T stock were not so volatile it would be above average.

Brown-Forman Corp. 401k (SP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-10-10T08:26:00.000-07:00

The Brown-Forman 401k Plan was helped a little by company stock BF.B and the Balanced portfolio invested 5.3% of the portfolio in the stock. The employee portfolio has 6.7% in the stock and their largest holding is the Fidelity stable value fund FMIP in the scan. The 3 largest holdings of the Balanced portfolio are the bond fund PTTRX, the money market fund FRTXX and the retirement income fund FFFAX. Once again just about the highest 5yr return fund is PIMCO's bond fund PTTRX with a 5yr APR over 8%. Interesting times.

Principal Financial Group 401k (SSP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-10-08T10:46:00.000-07:00

The Principal Financial Group 401k investment options are company mutual funds and company stock neither of which have done especially well the last 5 years. Company stock PFG has a negative 5yr return and is not in the Balanced portfolio, which has a 5yr APR of 5.08% with a positive Sharpe ratio of 0.38. That portfolio's 3 largest holdings are PIXEX, VUSTX a proxy for PGSPX (no 5yr data yet) and PBMJX. The employee portfolio 3 largest holdings are PSPJX, PIIJX and PIXEX and that portfolio has 5yr APR of 2.64% with a Sharpe ratio of 0.10. This plan could use more diversification in my opinion to provide employees with retirement options independent of the company. That would be prudent.

C.R. Bard, Inc. 401k (ST) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-10-07T09:05:00.000-07:00

The C.R. Bard 401k Plan was helped a bit by company stock BCR. The Balanced portfolio invested 5.2% of the Plan in the stock and the employee portfolio invested over 25% in the stock. As the 3D scan image shows this plan is not well diversified even though it has over 20 investment options because they are highly correlated funds. There are no sector funds and Vanguard has many of them including commodity and emerging market funds. The Balanced portfolio 5yr APR of 4.52% is well below the average of other 401k plans. My suggestion would be to ask Vanguard for some help with diversification.

Model Portfolio for Early Retirees in WSJ 10-5-2011

2011-10-06T07:18:00.000-07:00

This model portfolio from ProVise Management Group was published in the Wall Street Journal 10-5-2011. In the scan the investment options VIG and MAPIX do not yet have 5yr market data and are represented by proxies PRDGX and EWS. Also, cash is represented by a Vanguard money market fund VPMXX.

The Model Portfolio for Early Retirees asset allocation produces an above average 5yr APR of 6.84% with a Sharpe ratio of 1.13 compared to the average 401k retirement plan. The US Government 401k (TSP) for the same 5yr period has a 5yr APR = 5.24% with a Sharpe ratio of 2.91. The Morningstar In-Retirement Conservative Model portfolio scanned 12-21-2010 has about the same 5yr performance as this Model Portfolio for Early Retirees but with different investment options.

Ameron International 401k (RSP) PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-10-05T08:03:00.000-07:00

The Ameron 401k Plan Balanced portfolio changed little year-over-year. It has a 5yr APR of 5.96% with a Sharpe ratio of 1.35. The 3 largest holdings are the stable value fund SVF.hpx in the scan, the bond fund PTTRX and the retirement income fund VTINX. The largest holdings of the employee portfolio are the same except the retirement income fund is replaced by the mid cap equity fund MCMFX. The difference is probably a reflection of participant age, near retirement versus mid career. The 3D scan image shows this in the similar portfolio APR's but higher volatility in the employee portfolio. A good plan and a good stock the last 5 years.

TERRA (now CF) Industries 401k Final PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-10-04T10:54:00.000-07:00

TERRA Industries merged with CF Industries in April 2010 and shareholders received a cash payment of $37.15 per share plus 0.0953 of a share of CF stock. This design scan may be of more use to those near retirement than younger employees. In the scan all of the 12-31-2009 401k holdings of TRA stock were converted to cash and placed in the Wells Fargo Stable Return Fund WFSRF. The three largest holdings of the Balanced portfolio are the bond fund PTTRX, WFSRF and the Wells Fargo Dow Jones Target Today Fund STWRX. I have no information on the CF Industries retirement plan at this time.

MetLife 401k (SIP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-10-03T06:45:00.000-07:00

The MetLife 401k was not helped by company stock MET which has a negative 5yr APR. The Balanced portfolio performance is down year-over-year in part because of a change in bond funds to an index fund AGG in the scan. There were also small changes in 2 category investment options.

Fixed Income - SVF.hpx
Large Cap Growth Index Fund - JKE
Large Cap Equity Index Fund - JKD
Small Cap Equity Fund - JKJ
International Equity Fund - EFA
MetLife Stock Fund - MET
Large Cap Value Fund - IVE
Bond Index Fund - AGG

This is a small below average 401k Plan with a Balanced portfolio 5yr APR of 4.58% and a Sharpe ratio of 1.15. The employee portfolio 5yr APR was 3.54% with a Sharpe ratio of 0.37.

Target Corp. 401k Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-09-30T07:11:00.000-07:00

The Target 401k made a few changes last year in the core investment options but the Balanced portfolio remains a lifeboat portfolio. The employee portfolio largest holding is still company stock TGT at 39.2% of the plan assets. Plan performance this year is a little below average. In the scan this year I included their stable value investments and their GIC. These two Plan assets are not participant directed options as I read the SEC 11-k report. There is a self directed account option available in the Plan.

Regions Financial Corp. 401k Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-09-29T06:21:00.000-07:00

The Regions Financial 401k was hurt by company stock RF which has a negative 5yr APR of -23.44% and the employee portfolio largest holding is the stock. Their 5yr APR is also negative at -2.05%. The Balanced portfolio has a 5yr APR of 5.74% with a Sharpe ratio of 1.40. This is about average for hundreds of 401k plans. The Balanced portfolio largest holdings are 2 bond funds and the stable value fund. I hope employees understand that volatility kills compounding. In the last 5 years before retirement losing more than 20% each year in company stock is not prudent.

World ETF Portfolio Sharpe Index to 12-1-2011

2011-09-28T05:57:00.000-07:00

The R&D background information for this Index can be found in the 2011 White Paper "World ETF Sharpe Index" at the web site psdscanner.com. This is still a work in progress at the "White Bird" stage of development. The chart posted here will be updated monthly as the prototype continues flight testing. Early results have already established that Sharpe ratio data should be updated quarterly even though the ETF market data are updated monthly. The Standard & Poor's "Index Mathematics Methodology" ,February 2009 edition, was used in general for this work and in particular the chapter on Fund Strategy Indices.

Springfield Foods 401k Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-09-23T06:11:00.000-07:00

The last scan of the Springfield Foods 401k was in 2008. The Balanced portfolio still has no company stock SFD, which still has a negative 5yr annualized return. The largest holdings of the Balanced portfolio are PTTRX, WFSRF, STVSX and STMSX. The employee portfolio largest holdings are WFSRF, SFD and a 2020 target date retirement fund STTRX. Interesting. This small plan has about average performance and a company stock that has performed poorly for more than 5 years,

Union Pacific 401k (RTP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-09-22T06:22:00.000-07:00

This Union Pacific 401k Plan is vintage 2004 and does not have target date retirement TDR funds. The Union Pacific Fruit Express scan of 12-31-2009 does have Vanguard TDR funds and as far as I know Vanguard is the trustee for all these funds. This plan has two investment catagories; LifeStrategy Funds and Core Funds. The LifeStrategy Funds VASIX, VSCGX, VSMGX and VASGX are Pre-Mixed funds. The Core Funds are VMMXX, VRST (stable value fund), VBMFX, VWELX, VWNFX, VFINX, VTSMX, VWUSX, VMCIX, VSCIX, VWIGX and company stock UNP.

In many scans including this one the stable value fund has such a high Sharpe ratio the Balanced portfolio is too conservative for many younger employees. I selected one of the portfolios in the scan between the Balanced portfolio and company stock as a "Moderate" portfolio with more company stock and a good Sharpe ratio they may want to consider. That portfolio has 55% in UNP, 20% in VMMXX, and 5% in VBMFX, VWIGX, VMCIX, VSCIX, and VWUSX. As a student over fifty years ago loading Pacific Fruit Express cars each summer it would have been my choice but not today.

Waddell & Reed 401k (TP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-09-21T08:28:00.000-07:00

The Waddell & Reed 401k was last scanned with 2008 market data and company stock WDR was definitely not in that Balanced portfolio. The 401k has 17 Waddell & Reed investment options and 22 Ivy fund investment options but no target date funds. This year the Balanced portfolio has a little WDR but the largest holding is WLTAX an Ivy limited term bond fund at 12.7% of Plan with less than 5% in company stock. The employee portfolio largest holding is UNASX an asset allocation fund with WDR one of their top 3 holdings. A good 401k with an unusual collection of investment options.

A Model Conservative ETF Portfolio PSDS Scan 9-30-2011

2011-09-20T06:30:00.000-07:00

The Model Conservative ETF Portfolio in this scan was mentioned by Morningstar's Christine Benz in a talk to the AAII LA Chapter last Saturday. It was published in April of 2011 online at http://news.morningtstar.com in her paper "A Conservative ETF Portfolio for Retirees". It is similar to an earlier Morningstar model for an in-retirement mutual fund portfolio that was scanned 12-21-2010.

Several of the ETF funds in the portfolio do not yet have 5-year data so this scan is for a 3-year period using market data from Thomson Reuters. As the 3D scan image shows the Model portfolio and the Balanced portfolio are similar but with differences. In the scan cash is represented by the 3-Month Treasury Bill ETF, BIL, which has 3-year data. The use of ETF funds in retirement portfolios is timely, I have a few in a Roth IRA and there are advantages. Thanks Morningstar for supporting AAII and retirees with quality financial data services and people like Christine Benz and W. Scott Simon.

USC 401k (RSP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2010

2011-09-19T07:24:00.000-07:00

The USC (University of Southern California) 401k Retirement Savings Plan provides 4 options from major mutual fund companies and an insurance company; Fidelity, Prudential, TIAA-CREF and Vanguard. This scan is for the Prudential option. In the scan the Prudential Guaranteed Interest Account is GIC.ekx and it is the largest holding of the Sharpe ratio balanced portfolio. A uniform asset allocation portfolio is provided for comparison purposes, as I have no information on the employee asset allocation. The Balanced portfolio has an above average 5yr APR = 6.85% with a Sharpe ratio of 1.86. The largest equity holding of that portfolio is the Oppenheimer Developing Markets Fund with 4.9% of the portfolio. A good Plan choice with all but one of the Prudential options in the Balanced portfolio.