SANTA MONICA, Calif., Feb. 5, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Just like the results in 2012, with the exception of Taft Harley Health and Welfare Funds, institutional assets tracked by the Wilshire Trust Universe Comparison Service® (Wilshire TUCS®), saw double digit returns during 2013 making it the fourth year in the last five to reach that performance level. Wilshire TUCS, a cooperative effort between Wilshire Analytics, the investment technology unit of Wilshire Associates Incorporated (Wilshire®), and custodial organizations, is considered the most widely accepted benchmark for the performance and allocation of institutional assets in North America.
"This was a quarter and a year where exposure to U.S. Equities trumped all other asset classes. The Wilshire 5000 Total Market IndexSM was up 10.11 percent and 33.07 percent, respectively, during the fourth quarter and in 2013, versus international equity's 4.77 percent and 15.29 percent, respectively, for the MSCI AC World ex U.S.," stated Robert J. Waid, managing director, Wilshire Associates. "Bonds were the clear laggard as the Barclays U.S. Aggregate's followed its first negative quarter since 2006, the first quarter of 2013, with losing second and fourth quarters ending the year down -2.02 percent. This translates to a larger range of plan returns with a low of 2.97 percent for Taft Harley Health and Welfare Funds and a high of 5.55 percent for Taft Harley Defined Benefit Plans. The spread for 2013 returns is even larger with a low of 7.22 percent for Taft Harley Health and Welfare Funds and a high of 17.82 percent for Taft Harley Defined Benefit Plans," Waid noted.
"All plan types had a median return of 4.81 percent, bettering their strong third quarter performance," Waid commented. "Three of the four quarters in 2013 had median returns for All Master Trusts that exceeded 4 percent, resulting in a median 2013 return of 14.66 percent making this the fifth year in a row of positive median returns. In nine out of the last ten years, all plan types had positive returns -- six of them double digits," he added.
A chart of Wilshire TUCS - All-Plans Annual Median Returns is available at http://media.globenewswire.com/cache/31/file/24457.pdf
"Since small plans generally have larger exposure to U.S. Equities than large plans, it is not surprising that small plans slightly outperformed larger plans," said Waid. "All plan types with assets greater than $1 billion had median returns of 4.73 percent and 14.40 percent for the quarter and year, respectively."
About Wilshire Associates
Wilshire Associates, a leading global, independent investment consulting and services firm, provides consulting services, analytics solutions and customized investment products to plan sponsors, investment managers and financial intermediaries. Its business units include, Wilshire Analytics, Wilshire Consulting, Wilshire Funds Management and Wilshire Private Markets.
The firm was founded in 1972, providing revolutionary technology and acting as an early innovator in the application of investment analytics and research to investment managers in the institutional marketplace. Wilshire also is credited with helping to develop the field of quantitative investment analysis that uses mathematical tools to analyze market risks. All other business units evolved from Wilshire's strong analytics foundation. Wilshire developed the Wilshire 5000 Total Market IndexSM and became an early innovator in creating the industry's integrated asset/liability analysis/simulation models as well as the industry's practical models in risk budgeting through beta and active risk analysis. Wilshire has grown to a firm of more than 300 employees serving the investment needs of institutional clients around the world.
Based in Santa Monica, California, Wilshire provides services to clients in more than 20 countries representing more than 500 organizations with assets totaling approximately US $7 trillion.* With ten offices on four continents, Wilshire Associates and its affiliates are dedicated to providing clients with the highest quality counsel, products and services. Wilshire® and Trust Universe Comparison Service®, TUCS® are registered service marks of Wilshire Associates Incorporated. Wilshire 5000 Total Market IndexSM and Wilshire 4500 Completion IndexSM are service marks of Wilshire Associates Incorporated. Please visit http://www.wilshire.com/.
*Assets are as of December 31, 2011, based on published data in the December 24, 2012 issue of Pensions and Investments.
