{"id":10708,"date":"2026-02-22T15:07:44","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T19:07:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/?p=10708"},"modified":"2026-02-22T15:10:55","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T19:10:55","slug":"why-retirement-investors-are-shifting-money-abroad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/?p=10708","title":{"rendered":"Why retirement investors are shifting money abroad"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"byline yf-o43a56\">\n<div class=\"byline-attr yf-o43a56\">\n<div class=\"byline-attr-logo yf-o43a56\">Retirement investors are turning their attention overseas and putting more money into international stocks and emerging markets, according to Alight Solutions\u2019 401(k) Index.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"body-wrap yf-1c5o3lk\">\n<div class=\"body yf-v6n2s3\" data-testid=\"article-body\">\n<div class=\"bodyItems-wrapper\">\n<p class=\"yf-vbsvxt\">While trading levels in retirement accounts were muted, with no above-normal trading days in January, international equity funds soaked in 45% of equity inflows, while emerging markets attracted 33%, surpassing US equity categories. People pulled the most money \u2014 59% \u2014 from large US equity funds, followed by stable value funds and company stock funds, according to\u00a0<a class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/www.alight.com\/thought-leadership\/alight-solutions-401k-index-january-2026\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" data-i13n=\"cpos:1;pos:1\" data-ylk=\"slk:the index;cpos:1;pos:1;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-rapid_p=\"164\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkID&quot;:&quot;0n4i0mu0eyxpi906po3b&quot;}\" data-v9y=\"1\">the index<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/finance.yahoo.com\/news\/retirement-investors-go-global-181205806.html\">Read on Yahoo Finance<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-vbsvxt\">That&#8217;s a big switch from last year&#8217;s <a class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/www.alight.com\/thought-leadership\/alight-solutions-401k-index-full-year-2025\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" data-i13n=\"cpos:2;pos:1\" data-ylk=\"slk:pattern;cpos:2;pos:1;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-rapid_p=\"165\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkID&quot;:&quot;09x12w80v9n5v10ep0qm&quot;}\" data-v9y=\"1\">pattern<\/a>. \u201cIt&#8217;s a meaningful shift in investor behavior,\u201d Rob Austin, head of thought leadership at Alight Solutions, told Yahoo Finance. \u201cFor the past year, investors were consistently pulling more money out of equity funds than they were putting in. This usually signals caution, uncertainty, a desire to de\u2011risk, or just rebalancing in a rising equity market.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"bonds-no-longer-reign\" class=\"header-scroll yf-1u6g9f6\"><strong>Bonds no longer reign<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p class=\"yf-vbsvxt\">Overall, last year 401(k) savers played it safe and moved their investments into conservative assets like bonds, pulling large sums of 401(k) money mostly from target-date funds, company stock, and midsize US equity funds.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-vbsvxt\">Don\u2019t be fooled by people pulling money from their target-date funds, though. These funds remain the largest asset class for 401(k) savers. In fact, the biggest chunk of contributions in January went into target-date funds.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-vbsvxt\">Nearly all 401(k) plan sponsors and most state auto-IRA programs use target-date funds when they automatically enroll workers in a retirement plan.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-vbsvxt\">This shift back to investing in equities is worth noting. Of 20 trading days last month, 12 favored equities over fixed income, according to the index. New contributions to equities increased to 73% in January from 70.1% in December.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-vbsvxt\">\u201cParticipants weren\u2019t just reallocating within equities, they were trading new money to the asset class,\u201d Austin said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-vbsvxt\">The dip into international equities, however, is a sign that 401(k) retirement investors may be spooked by the volatility in US equities in the past year and are seeking longer-term global opportunities, the financial advisers I interviewed suggested.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-vbsvxt\"><a class=\"link \" href=\"mailto:%20kerry.hannon@yahooinc.com\" data-i13n=\"cpos:4;pos:1\" data-ylk=\"slk:Have a question about retirement? Personal finances? Anything career-related? Click here to drop Kerry Hannon a note.;cpos:4;pos:1;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-rapid_p=\"171\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkID&quot;:&quot;1v7q0kl1f0539e1teg7k&quot;}\" data-v9y=\"1\"><strong><em>Have a question about retirement? Personal finances? Anything career-related? Click here to drop Kerry Hannon a note.<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"looking-abroad-for-growth\" class=\"header-scroll yf-1u6g9f6\"><strong>Looking abroad for growth<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p class=\"yf-vbsvxt\">No one is knocking having US equities in your retirement accounts, mind you. US stocks had a sweet 2025. But global markets were even better. A major index tracking roughly 85% of global equity outside US stocks, the MSCI All Country World ex-USA Index,<a class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/www.msci.com\/documents\/10199\/86494e1f-914e-4aa5-82a9-2e29ed5adbbf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" data-i13n=\"cpos:5;pos:1\" data-ylk=\"slk:gained;cpos:5;pos:1;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-rapid_p=\"172\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkID&quot;:&quot;0dcbqxr0zo3w6817jyyk&quot;}\" data-v9y=\"1\">\u00a0gained\u00a0<\/a>29.2% in 2025 compared to the S&amp;P 500\u2019s gain of 17.9%. And it was up 6% last month while the S&amp;P 500 gained 1.4%.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"read-more-wrapper\" data-testid=\"read-more\">\n<p class=\"yf-vbsvxt\">\u201cLast year was the first time since 2009 where emerging markets and international beat the S&amp;P 500,\u201d Cary Carbonaro, a certified financial planner and the<a class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/carycarbonaro.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" data-i13n=\"cpos:6;pos:1\" data-ylk=\"slk:author;cpos:6;pos:1;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-rapid_p=\"174\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkID&quot;:&quot;07knu1n0chevn41bes1t&quot;}\" data-v9y=\"1\">\u00a0author<\/a>\u00a0of the book \u201cWomen and Wealth,&#8221; told me. \u201cIt\u2019s a good time to rotate international into your 401(k) if you have not.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-vbsvxt\">Moving into this new year, there\u2019s lots of wind pushing global markets \u2014 from the artificial intelligence boom (which has boosted markets in Asia) to a weaker US dollar. When the dollar weakens and other currencies strengthen, investments mostly in those currencies become more valuable when you convert back into dollars.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-vbsvxt\">Austin says it\u2019s anyone\u2019s guess why people made the moves they did, but surmises that it could be an early sign that confidence may be improving. \u201cCombined with the strong interest we saw in international and emerging markets, it suggests investors are once again willing to take on risk in search of growth, rather than staying parked in more conservative options.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"byline-attr yf-o43a56\">\n<div class=\"byline-attr-logo yf-o43a56\"><a class=\"primary-link fin-size-small yf-119g04z\" href=\"https:\/\/finance.yahoo.com\/author\/kerry-hannon\" target=\"_self\" data-ylk=\"elm:author;elmt:link;itc:0;slk:Kerry%20Hannon;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;author&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Kerry Hannon&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkID&quot;:&quot;0mrha250zjj3q80t9gyc&quot;}\" data-rapid_p=\"154\" data-v9y=\"1\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"byline-attr-logo-img yf-o43a56\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/g.2SvojXrwMNsUGlR9EcQQ--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTgwO2g9ODA-\/https:\/\/o.aolcdn.com\/images\/dims?image_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fo.aolcdn.com%2Fimages%2Fdims%3Fimage_uri%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fo.aolcdn.com%252Fimages%252Fdims%253Fimage_uri%253Dhttps%25253A%25252F%25252Fo.aolcdn.com%25252Fimages%25252Fdims%25253Fimage_uri%25253Dhttps%2525253A%2525252F%2525252Fs.yimg.com%2525252Fos%2525252Fcreatr-uploaded-images%2525252F2023-07%2525252F41712030-1c23-11ee-bcf7-7d286db2677e%252526compress%25253D1%252526progressive%25253D1%252526quality%25253D75%252526client%25253Dhawkeye%252526signature%25253D1de715733bdefcb02d735079f8145447d5b31ff0%2526compress%253D1%2526progressive%253D1%2526quality%253D75%2526client%253Dhawkeye%2526signature%253D850fb3720e7261df724b58ed79f7f65a79a681be%26compress%3D1%26progressive%3D1%26quality%3D75%26client%3Dhawkeye%26signature%3D4f2b35afece555fd336b1d5801a4fe34b86903bf&amp;compress=1&amp;progressive=1&amp;quality=75&amp;client=hawkeye&amp;signature=a5075ca77bffbb522c38a04e6704e3941da848c2\" alt=\"Kerry Hannon\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"byline-attr-author yf-o43a56\"><a class=\"primary-link fin-size-large noUnderline yf-119g04z\" href=\"https:\/\/finance.yahoo.com\/author\/kerry-hannon\" target=\"_self\" data-ylk=\"elm:author;elmt:link;itc:0;slk:Kerry%20Hannon;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;author&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Kerry Hannon&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkID&quot;:&quot;0k5mil11lmttnh0y5f2x&quot;}\" data-rapid_p=\"155\" data-v9y=\"1\">Kerry Hannon<\/a>\u00a0<span class=\"byline-attr-meta-separator yf-o43a56\">\u00b7<\/span>\u00a0Senior Columnist<\/div>\n<div class=\"byline-attr-time-style\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"byline-share yf-o43a56\">\n<div>\n<div class=\"menuContainer yf-1afhv55\">\n<div class=\"icon fin-icon primary-icn sz-x-large yf-15ilbqr\" aria-hidden=\"true\" data-icon-type=\"ios-share\" data-testid=\"desktop-share-icon\"><em>Kerry Hannon is a Senior Columnist at Yahoo Finance. She is a career and retirement strategist and the author of 14 books, including &#8220;<\/em><a class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/www.hachettebookgroup.com\/titles\/kerry-hannon\/retirement-bites\/9781541705845\/?lens=publicaffairs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" data-i13n=\"cpos:8;pos:1\" data-ylk=\"slk:Retirement Bites: A Gen X Guide to Securing Your Financial Future,;cpos:8;pos:1;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-rapid_p=\"176\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkID&quot;:&quot;1ry6yup0b9zgd807xdcx&quot;}\" data-v9y=\"1\"><em>Retirement Bites: A Gen X Guide to Securing Your Financial Future,<\/em><\/a><em>&#8221; &#8220;<\/em><a class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/?page_id=9253\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" data-i13n=\"cpos:9;pos:1\" data-ylk=\"slk:In Control at 50+: How to Succeed in the New World of Work;cpos:9;pos:1;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-rapid_p=\"177\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkID&quot;:&quot;04wbdb41fww61g073mmd&quot;}\" data-v9y=\"1\"><em>In Control at 50+: How to Succeed in the New World of Work<\/em><\/a><em>,&#8221; and &#8220;Never Too Old to Get Rich.&#8221; Follow her on\u00a0<\/em><a class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/kerryhannon.bsky.social\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" data-i13n=\"cpos:10;pos:1\" data-ylk=\"slk:Bluesky;cpos:10;pos:1;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-rapid_p=\"178\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkID&quot;:&quot;1g56wf80zrp34a0ql33y&quot;}\" data-v9y=\"1\"><em>Bluesky<\/em><\/a><em>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em><a class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/KerryHannon\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" data-i13n=\"cpos:11;pos:1\" data-ylk=\"slk:X;cpos:11;pos:1;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-rapid_p=\"179\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkID&quot;:&quot;00icnq91pwzvum1gttfm&quot;}\" data-v9y=\"1\"><em>X<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-small.png?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"small\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Why retirement investors are shifting money abroad\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Retirement investors are turning their attention overseas and putting more money into international stocks and emerging markets, according to Alight Solutions\u2019 401(k) Index. While trading levels in retirement accounts were muted, with no above-normal trading days in January, international equity funds soaked in 45% of equity inflows, while emerging markets attracted 33%, surpassing US equity [&hellip;]<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-small.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"small\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Why retirement investors are shifting money abroad\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10712,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[101,9,597],"tags":[121,333],"class_list":["post-10708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-personal-finance-2","category-retirement","category-yahoo","tag-investing","tag-retirement"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kerryhannon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-22-at-2.10.14%E2%80%AFPM.png?fit=1296%2C620&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3YFQS-2MI","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10708"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10708\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10711,"href":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10708\/revisions\/10711"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}