Defined Contribution Pension Plans: Sticky or Discerning Money?

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Sialm, Clemens; Starks, Laura T.; Zhang, Hanjiang
• 署名单位: University of Texas System; University of Texas Austin; National Bureau of Economic Research; Nanyang Technological University
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF FINANCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-1082
• DOI: 10.1111/jofi.12232
• 发表日期: 2015
• 页码: 805-838
• 关键词: MUTUAL FUND PERFORMANCE; portfolio choice; FLOWS; STOCK; RISK; PARTICIPATION; decisions; selection; returns; COSTS

摘要

Participants in defined contribution (DC) retirement plans rarely adjust their portfolio allocations, suggesting that their investment choices and consequent money flows are sticky and not discerning. However, participants' inertia could be offset by DC plan sponsors, who adjust the plan's investment options. We examine these countervailing influences on flows into U.S. mutual funds. We find that flows into funds from DC assets are more volatile and exhibit more performance sensitivity than non-DC flows, primarily due to adjustments to the investment options by the plan sponsors. Thus, DC retirement money is less sticky and more discerning than non-DC money.