Wilshire Trust Universe Comparison Service® Reports Strong Fourth Quarter of 2023 with 7.95% Gross Return

Santa Monica, Calif., February 12, 2024 – Institutional assets tracked by Wilshire Trust Universe Comparison Service® (Wilshire TUCS®)posted an all-plan median gross return of 7.95% for the fourth quarter and 12.15% for the year ending December 31, 2023. 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.

“The strength of the U.S. economy in the face of moderating inflation has provided an opportunity for a pause in interest rate hikes and renewed optimism for the economy and risk assets,” said Josh Emanuel, CIO of Wilshire. “All plan types underperformed a traditional 60/40 portfolio, while smaller plans with higher allocations to public markets generally outperformed larger plans, by more than 100 basis points in some cases,” Emanuel added.

U.S. equities, represented by the FT Wilshire 5000 Index℠, rose 12.10% in the fourth quarter and 26.10% for the 12 months ending in December; meanwhile, international equities, represented by the MSCI AC World ex U.S., returned 9.75% in the fourth quarterand 15.62% for the past year. U.S. bonds, represented by the Wilshire Bond Index℠, rose 8.01% in the fourth quarter with a gain of 6.68% for the one-year.

Across all plan types, quarterly median gains ranged from 5.80% to 8.89% for large foundation and endowment funds (assets above $500 million) and small foundation and endowment funds, respectively. One-year median returns ranged from 9.36% to 14.36% for large corporate funds (assets above $1 billion) and small public funds (assets below $1 billion), respectively.

For the quarter, all plan medians underperformed the 60/40 portfolio gain of 9.36%. Additionally, all plan medians underperformed the 10.24% gain for the multi-asset Wilshire Risk Parity – 12% Target Volatility Index. Small foundation and endowment funds outperformed all other sizes and plan types in the fourth quarter due mostly to a larger (nearly 50%) exposure to U.S. equities. 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 21.8% and 22.4% respectively.

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For the year, all large and small plan groups underperformed the 15.36% gain for the 60/40 portfolio while many small plans outperformed the 12.58% gain for the multi-asset Wilshire Risk Parity – 12% Target Volatility Index. Large plans underperformed small across all plan types for the one-year, due mostly to smaller allocations to public equities.

Large plans (assets above $1billion) overall posted gains of 6.58% for the quarter and 11.02% for the year ending December 31, 2023; meanwhile small plans (assets less than $1 billion) outperformed large for the quarter and for the year with returns of 8.58% and 12.61%, respectively.

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 $1.2 trillion in assets and manages $86 billion in assets as of September 30, 2023. Wilshire is headquartered in the United States with offices worldwide.

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More information on Wilshire can be found at www.wilshire.com.

Wilshire TUCS®

The Wilshire TUCS® Benchmarks reflect the invested universe of the over 2,000 U.S. fund sponsors and the over $3.8 trillion in assets (U.S.) they represent in the Wilshire TUCS database. 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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