In large 401(k)s, most fund money is now in a collective trust.
Across large 401(k) plans, collective investment trusts hold $2.68 trillion. Mutual funds hold $2.62 trillion. A dead heat.
A collective investment trust is the same kind of pooled fund as a mutual fund, but sold only to retirement plans — no ticker, no price in the paper, usually cheaper. A decade ago it was a niche institutional wrapper. Today, in large plans, there’s a dollar in a trust for every dollar in a mutual fund.
And in the fastest-growing corner — target-date funds — the trust has already pulled ahead.
