Top Criteria Used to Decide Which Funds Are Appropriate for Plans 1st Performance (1-yr return) Performance (5-yr return) 2nd 3rd 4th Performance vs. benchmarks 50.0% 29.1% Manager tenure Brand Style drift Total assets Sharpe ratio Share class availability Adviser support Supporting materials Fee structure for adviser Fee structure for plan Plan demographics 13.6% 4.5% 36.4% 22.7% 21.9% 37.0% 19.2% 16.4% 14.5% 4.5% 6.5% 14.5% 14.5% 29.0% 4.0% 8.0% 12.0% 28.0% 8.5% 6.4% 21.3% 38.3% 17.6% 11.8% 5.9% 0.0% 18.6% 24.3% 22.9% 20.0% 11.5% 5.8% 26.9% 23.1% 14.3% 21.4% 7.1% 11.1% 7.1% 0.0% 22.2% 11.1% 20.0% 0.0% 10.0% 10.0% 21.2% 16.5% 24.7% 18.8% 33.3% 12.8% 20.5% 10.3% Top Criteria Used to Decide Which Recordkeepers Are Appropriate for Plans 1st 1 Value for price 2 Fee structure for plan 3 Investment options available 4 Website tools for participants 5 Participant education 6 Reputation 7 Value-added adviser services 8 Adviser support 9 Website tools for plan sponsors 46% 25% 2nd 21% 1st or 2nd 67% 20% 45% 10% 19% 29% 1% 3% 4% 4% 3% 2% 10 Supporting materials for plan sponsors 1% 11 Recommendation by home office 12 Brand recognition 13 Wholesalers 14 Fee structure for adviser 2% 0% 0% 0% 6 J.P. Morgan 7 Oppenheimer 14% 15% 11% 14% 6% 2% 2% 2% 3% 0% 2% 2% 11% 5% 5% 4% 4% 2% 0% 0% 0% 0% *A total of 207 qualified advisers voting. To qualify, an adviser had to be personally involved in evaluating and recommending fund choices in an advisory capacity with qualified plan clients. " Top 5% " = number of qualified advisers (of 207 total) selecting the fund family. " 1st Place % " = number of first-place votes out of total Top 5 votes. 8 American Century 9 PIMCO 10 MFS 11 Dimensional Fund Advisors 12 Invesco 13 TIAA 14 Legg Mason 15 Janus Henderson 16 Prudential 17 Pioneer 18 Lord Abbett 19 Charles Schwab 20 Principal Top 20 Fund Families Preferred by Plan Advisers* 1st Top 5 Votes 1 Vanguard 2 American Funds 3 T. Rowe Price 4 BlackRock 5 Fidelity 119 108 82 64 63 62 29 28 28 23 21 19 19 16 15 12 11 10 9 9 Top 5% 57% 52% 40% 31% 30% 30% 14% 14% 14% 11% 10% 9% 9% 8% 7% 6% 5% 5% 4% 4% Place Votes 42 45 12 22 3 13 3 5 4 3 5 2 2 1 1 3 1 1st Place 35% 42% 15% 34% 5% 21% 10% 18% 0% 17% 14% 26% 11% 13% 7% 8% 0% 0% 33% 11% Mutual Funds Advisers Most Often Recommend to Plan Sponsors (172 advisers voting; 799 total votes) Fund Name VOTES 1 Vanguard S&P 500 Index Fund 2 American Funds EuroPacific Growth Fund 3 American Funds Target Date Funds 4 Vanguard Target Retirement Funds 5 T. Rowe Price Target-Date Funds 6 Metropolitan West Total Return Bond Fund 7 J.P. Morgan SmartRetirement Funds 7 PIMCO Income Fund 9 Oppenheimer Developing Markets Fund 10 Prudential Total Return Bond Fund 52 44 29 27 20 16 15 15 13 12 % 30% 26% 17% 16% 12% 9% 9% 9% 8% 7% planadviser.com september-october 2017 | 39http://www.planadviser.com