Wilshire Trust Universe Comparison Service® Reports Negative Fourth Quarter of 2024 with -1.15% Gross Return

Santa Monica, Calif., February 6, 2025 – Institutional assets tracked by Wilshire Trust Universe Comparison Service® (Wilshire TUCS®) posted an all-plan median gross return of -1.15% for the fourth quarter and 9.28% for the 12 months ending December 31, 2024. Wilshire TUCS, a cooperative effort between Wilshire and custodial organizations, is widely considered the definitive benchmark for U.S. institutional plan assets performance and allocation.

“Global economic growth moderated in 2024 with stability in U.S. growth being offset by weakness in other advanced economies, specifically in larger European economies. Also, we continue to see signs of moderation in the consumption of services as higher prices and lower excess cash savings are weighing on affordability,” said Josh Emanuel, CIO of Wilshire. “Public plans and foundation and endowments outperformed a traditional 60/40 portfolio, while corporate plans lagged. Larger plans, with higher allocations to alternatives, generally outperformed smaller plans,” Emanuel added.

U.S. equities, represented by the FT Wilshire 5000 Index℠, rose 2.63% in the fourth quarter and 23.76% for the 12 months ending in December; meanwhile, international equities, represented by the MSCI AC World ex U.S., returned -7.60% in the fourth quarter and 5.53% for the past year. U.S. bonds, represented by the Wilshire Bond Index℠, returned -3.41% in the fourth quarter with a small gain of 0.99% for the one-year.

Across all plan types, quarterly median returns ranged from -2.03% to 0.35% for small corporate funds (assets below $1 billion) and large foundations and endowments (assets above $500 million), respectively. One-year median returns ranged from 4.61% to 10.55% for large corporate funds (assets above $1 billion) and large foundations and endowments, respectively.

For the quarter, median public plans and foundation and endowments outperformed the global 60/40 portfolio loss of -1.81%, while the median corporate plan trailed. All plan medians outperformed the -7.77% loss for the multi-asset Wilshire Risk Parity – 12% Target Volatility Index. Large foundations and endowments outperformed all other sizes and plan types in the fourth quarter due to relatively high allocations to alternatives. Allocation trends continue to show significant exposure for large foundations and endowments to alternatives, with a median fourth quarter allocation above 50%. Large corporate and public funds had median fourth quarter allocations to alternatives of 22.2% and 21.6%, respectively.

For the past 12 months, all large and small plan groups underperformed the 10.77% gain for the 60/40 portfolio buyout performed the 3.63% gain for the multi-asset Wilshire Risk Parity – 12% Target Volatility Index. Large plans outperformed small for both public plans and foundation and endowments but trailed with corporate plans, due mostly to larger allocations to fixed income.

About Wilshire

Wilshire is a leading global financial services firm and trusted partner to a diverse range of approximately 500 leading institutional investors and financial intermediaries. Our clients rely on us to improve investment outcomes for a better future. Wilshire advises on over $1.5 trillion in assets and manages $124 billion in assets as of September 30, 2024. Wilshire is headquartered in the United States with offices worldwide. More information on Wilshire can be found at www.wilshire.com.

Wilshire TUCS®

The Wilshire TUCS® Benchmarks reflect the invested universe of the over 450 U.S. fund sponsors and the over $4.9 trillion in assets (U.S.) they represent in the Wilshire TUCS database as of 3/31/2024. Available quarterly, the Wilshire TUCS® has both plan level and portfolio level designations that delineate to which universe they belong. Wilshire TUCS® benchmarks provide performance, allocation and risk quartiles based on the multiple-sponsor, plan type, asset class and asset size universes. Provided in the traditional “blind” quartile break format, these benchmarks reflect Wilshire Associates’ recognition of a plan sponsor’s desire for anonymity, while also providing a powerful benchmark for the investment manager and advisor firm. Wilshire TUCS data is comprised of plans contributed by the participating custodian bank and is calculated using accounting inputs and computational methods standards. These standards were established to ensure the accuracy and comparability of data in the universe.

Index Definitions

FT Wilshire US 5000 Index – The FT Wilshire US 5000 Index is abroad-based market capitalization-weighted index that aims to capture 100% of the US investible market capitalization.

MSCI ACWI ex USA Index – The MSCI ACWI ex USA Index captures large- and mid-cap representation across developed markets countries (excluding the United States) and emerging markets countries. The index covers approximately 85% of the global equity opportunity set outside the United States.

Wilshire Bond Index℠ – The Wilshire Bond Index℠ measures the performance of the U.S. taxable fixed income market based on actual holdings of U.S. institutional investors. The index includes all U.S. debt securities that are held by institutional investors represented by Wilshire Trust Universe Comparison Service® (TUCS®).

Wilshire Risk Parity Index – 12% Target Volatility – The Wilshire Risk Parity Index – 12% Target Volatility is designed to measure the performance of a multi-asset risk parity strategy that allocates risk equally among three risk baskets: equity, rates and inflation while targeting an ex-ante volatility level of 12%.

Important Information

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