MassMutual female retirement plan participants have been shifting an increasing percentage of their retirement savings into asset allocation investments but are favoring target-date options, according to data released by MassMutual's retirement services division.

By the end of 2010, women had 24.3 percent of their retirement assets in asset allocation options while men had 24 percent. Significantly, the data shows that among female investors, average balances in target-date investments are approximately double those of risk-based options. For men, the split is approximately even between target-date and risk-based options.

This is possible because women have recognized the need for better diversification, and men have traditionally demonstrated more aggressive investment behavior than women, which is supported by MassMutual's data. According to a recent survey of MassMutual retirement plan participants, 53.1 percent of female participants preferred to spend little time on making investment decisions compared to 35.1 percent for men. Additionally, 25.9 percent of women are confident in making their personal investment decisions compared to 44.1 percent for men.

Balances for women still trail men by roughly 40 percent, and deferral percentages follow men by 0.5 percent; however, on average, balances for women gained 5.7 percent for the quarter, compared to 5.5 percent for men, which also could be explained by their different investment approaches.

At 3.8 percent, this was the lowest percent level since the market decline for participants who stopped or decreased their deferrals during the quarter. The number of participant loans, hardship withdrawals, and call center activities faced a slight dip as well.

"MassMutual has invested significant resources in participant education, and, in fact, participant visits to self-service education modules increased by 6 percent during the fourth quarter versus the third quarter 2010, and are up 21 percent for the year," says Elaine Sarsynski, executive vice president of MassMutual's retirement services division and chairman and CEO of MassMutual International LLC.

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Women favor target-date investments

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