Sirius XM Radio 401k (SP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2009

This is a good plan but for a company with a stock, SIRI, that has a 5yr APR = -41.0% and with the highest 5yr STD = 200.81% that I can recall. The Balanced portfolio has a decent 5yr APR = 4.91% with a nice 5yr Sharpe ratio = 1.72. The employee portfolio has 14% 0f their money invested in company stock which almost pushed the portfolio off the 2D scan chart. The plan trustee is Prudential and many of their Liftime SMA finds like the Lifetime Balanced fund PRU.bal in the scan are in the 401k plan. The two largest holdings in the Balanced portfolio are the GIC and the Prudential Core Plus / PIMCO bond fund PRU.cpb in the scan.

I remind everyone once again that volatility kills compounding. Company sock SIRI has a 5yr AVERAGE APR = 47% but volatility reduced that to a 5yr APR = -41.0%. Thats the number your bank account would show.

Barnes Group 401k (RSP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2009

In spite of being volatile company stock B did help this plan and the Balanced portfolio invested 3.8% 0f the plan in the stock. The employee portfolio invested 34.0% of that portfolio in the stock which greatly incresed their volatility risk. All in all a good plan but still a lifeboat Balanced portfolio with the 2 largest holdings being the stable value fund FMIP2 and the bond fund DBIRX. There were 9 invetsment options in the Balanced portfolio.

Brown Shoe Company 401k (SP) PSDS Scan 12-31-2009

This plan was not helped by company stock BWS which is very volatile. The Balanced portfolio has money in only 4 investment options; the money market fund VMVXX, the bond fund PTTRX, the international fund AEPGX and the growth fund AGTHX. The employee portfolio has 22.6% of their money in company stock which reduced their return and increased their risk. The plan is small but has several good investment options.

CARBO Ceramics 401k (SPSP) PSDS Scan 12-31-2009

This plan was helped a bit by company stock CRR and the Balanced portfolio invested 2.1% of the plan in the stock. The 2 largest holdings of that portfolio were the GIC and the bond fund PTTRX. The 2 largest holdings of the employee portfolio were the GIC and the growth fund AGTHX. In a bit of a surprise the Balanced portfolio invested more in the emerging market fund ODMAX than the international fund AEPGX. That has happened a few times this year in other scans as well.

Kennametal Inc. 401k (RISP) PSDS Scan 12-31-2009

The Balanced portfolio is another lifeboat portfolio with the 3 largest holdings being the stable value fund SVF.hpx in the scan and the two bond funds PTTRX and VBMFX. The employee portfolio has as its 3 largest holdings the stable value fund, company stock KMT and a target date retirement fund FFVFX. This is the first time I have seen a target date fund with so much invested in it and I think it more a marketing success than a good investment today. The plan has several much better investment options that are listed in the 3D scan image.

Assurant Inc. 401k Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2009

This plan was not helped by company stock AIZ which has a small negative 5yr APR = -0.34%. The Balanced portfolio has over 70% of the plan invested in the money market fund VMVXX and the bond fund PTTRX. The employee portfolio has VMVXX and VGSTX as its two largest holdings with a small positive 5yr APR = 3.19% and a small postive Sharpe ratio. This is a young company and except for a terrible 2008 has done well. The YTD return is 41%. The 401k plan has too many Target Date retirment funds in my opinion as do many others. They are highly correlated.

Granite Construction 401k (PS) PSDS Scan 12-31-2009

The constructon industry was double digit down in 2009 and that included the company stock for Granite Construction GVA in this 401k plan. Last year the Balanced portfolio had 22.9% of the portfolio in GVA and this year only 3.0% which would be a big concern for most retirees. The plan has many good investment options and the Balanced portfolio invested in 11 of them this year. That portfolio has an impressive 5yr Sharpe ratio of 1.00 without a stable value fund. The employee portfolio still has GVA as its largest holding and that did not help. The stock is down another 25.8% year-to-date in 2010.

Macy's 401k (PSIP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2009

Macy's began in 1858 and has grown to include many retail companies. The plan trustee is JP Morgan Chase and I tried to use their funds for the investment catagories in the SEC 11-k report as available.

Stable value fund - SVF.hpx

Money Market - VMVXX

Balanced Fund - OGIAX

S&P 500 Stock Index Fund - OGEAX

Small/Mid Cap Stock Fund - WWMSX

International Stock Fund - JSEAX

Macy's Stock Fund - M

Target Retirement Date Funds - Vanguard

The Balanced portfolio has over 85% of that portfolio in the stable value fund and the money market fund. Company stock M does not have a positive 5yr APR but has done well year-to-date and last year. The employee portfolio has 12.8% of their money in the stock which did not help the portfolio. All in all a pretty basic plan with a modest but postive Balanced portfolio.

DeVry 401k (SSRP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2009

The Balanced portfolio is very similar to last year with a few Target Date funds added. The plan was helped by company stock DV which has a 5yr APR = 26.96% and a Sharpe ratio of 0.70. The employee and Balanced portfolios invested just over 8% of each portfolio in company stock. The DeVry plan has strong fixed income options and average equity investment options except for company stock. As a retiree you should keep in mind that company stock is volatile.

Capital One Financial 401k (ASP) PSDS Scan 12-31-2009

This plan has several very good investment options but company stock COF is not one of them. The Balanced portfolio has improved year-over-year with the market and now has 6 investment options in the portfolio producing a 5yr APR = 6.51% and a Sharpe ratio of 1.08. The employee portfolio has company stock as its largest holding at 18.6% of the portfolio and that produced a negative 5yr APR = -0.24%. In the scan the stable value fund is SVF.hpx and LifePath Funds without 5yr data were represented by the corresponding US Government Lifepath fund or the corresponding Vanguard fund.

Equifax 401k (RSP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2009

This plan was interesting to me. The Balanced portfolio has no company stock EFX because it has a negative 5yr Sharpe ratio but it does have 6.3% invested in MGEMX an emerging markets fund from Morgan Stanley. They are both volatile but MGMEX has a much higher return and a positive 5yr Sharpe ratio, interesting. The employee portfolio has 14.6% invested in company stock, their largest holding, and that reduced their 5yr return. The 3 largest holdings in the Balanced portfolio are as usual the stable value fund FMIP2 in the scan, the money market fund FRTXX and the the bond fund PTTRX.

Abercrombie & Fitch 401k (SRP) PSDS Scan 12-31-2009

This plan was not helped by company stock ANF and the Balanced portfolio's largest holdings are the stable value fund FMIP2 in the scan at 55.5% of plan and the ever popular bond fund PTTRX at 27.3%. The employee portfolio has less than 1% invested in company stock and their two largest holdings as of 12-31-2009 were the stable value fund and FDIVX a diversified international fund. This small plan has several good funds that are in the 3D scan image and they should have increasing Balanced portfolio percentages over time as the economy recovers.

Nordstrom 401k (PS) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2009

Compared to last year the Balanced portfolio has increased its APR by about 1% and the stable value fund (SVF.put) now only has 53.9% of the plan. Last year it had 90.8% of the plan. The employee portfolio has 22.7% invested in company stock JWN which is their largest holding. That increased their volatility risk but not their return. A good plan with few changes and with year over year performance improvment.

Potash Corp. 401k (SP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2009

The Potash Corp. 401k plan for U.S. employees is remarkably similar to last year. The Balanced portfolio has 6.3% of the portfolio in company stock POT and the employee portfolio has 42.9% of that portfolio in the stock which still has a 5yr APR over 30%. The Balanced portfolio now has a little money in Fidelity Freedom funds but the 3 largest holdings are still the stable value fund FMIP2 in the scan, the money market fund FRTXX and and a short-intermediate Government bond fund FFXSX. I know commodity markets are volatile and Saskatchewan may be the Canadian wild west capitol. The stock is up 33% year-to-date.

Home Depot 401k (FutureBuilder) PSDS Scan 12-31-2009

A lot has changed since the last Home Depot scan 7-31-2008 but not the volatility of company stock HD which still has a negative 5yr APR. The Balanced portfolio now includes several Blackrock LifePath funds and the largest holding is the Blackrock U.S. Debt Index fund FUNDF in the scan with 75.3% of the portfolio in that fund. These Blackrock funds are also in the US Government 401k (TSP) which is the source of the 5yr data in the scan. The SEC 11-k report has no data on employee asset allocation by individual fund.

The plan also includes a Schwab PCRA option for employees who want to select and manage their own portfolio. There was a Schwab 457 PCRA portfolio design scan posted on this site with the September 2010 scans. That portfolio uses Schwab recommended investments options of which there are many.

Liz Claiborne 401k (SPSP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2009

The Balanced portfolio this year improved over last year and now has only 53.2% of the portfolio in the stable value fund FMIP2 in the scan. Company stock LIZ had a good 2009 but not good enough to have a positive 5yr APR and the employee portfolio has only 2% in the stock. All in all a good plan but the employee bond asset allocation needs work in my opinion.

JP Morgan Chase 401k (SP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2009

The JP Morgan Chase plan was helped a little by company stock JPM which recovered in 2009 and the Balanced portfolio has a little, 0.9%, invested in the stock. The SEC 11-k report is 141 pages long mostly listing assets in the GIC which is still the largest holding in the portfolio. This year the report does not provide employee portfolio assets by individual investment option and a Unifom portfolio is shown in the 2D scan chart. The 3D scan image has about twice as many holdings as last year and a higher 5yr return 5.11% with a positive Sharpe ratio. It is still a lifeboat portfolio and will be until the capital market line inverts back to positive.