Portfolio

Of the companies that have suspended matching contributions to their 401(k) plan, nearly half, 46.7%, have either already reinstated the match or plan to do so in the first quarter of 2010, the Profit Sharing/401k Council of America found. Among large companies, 52.7% have restored the match or plan to do so.

Participation in 401(k) plans, regardless of age or income, rises according to the size of a company, according to a report from the Employee Benefit Research Institute.

As investors ran from stock funds and sought the safety of bond funds this year, PIMCO’s Total Return fund ballooned to $199 billion in assets, and should its heady inflows continue at this pace, the fund will soon top the $202.3 billion record sister fund Growth Fund of America set in 2007, Bloomberg reports.

More mutual funds are contributing a portion of their profits to charity, which could sway more investors to choose their funds, The Wall Street Journal reports. However, advisers tell investors they should check to see if these admirable funds are charging higher fees and take a hard look at their performance.

Financial Research Corp. has released its list of the top 10 asset management marketers, with American Funds taking top honors, followed by Franklin Templeton and Fidelity.

iShares’ 529 plan, based in Arkansas, has become one of the sponsors of the Little Rock Museum of Discovery, and to celebrate the partnership, iShares commissioned Cirque du Soleil, another organization it supports, to perform two acts at the museum on Dec. 10. In the spirit of the museum, the circus performers will discuss the science behind their acts.

Active traders are feeling increasingly more optimistic about the stock market and the U.S. economic recovery, Charles Schwab found in an October survey of 300 active traders.

PIMCO has hired Neel Kashkari, the head of the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program up until May, as a managing director and head of new investment initiatives, in charge of developing actively managed stock funds. Before that, Kashkari was a vice president at Goldman Sachs, where he led the firm’s information technology security investment banking practice. Previously, he was an aerospace engineer at TRW Corp., where he developed technology for NASA science missions.

Generation Y, those between 22 and 33, have taken the financial crisis to heart and have become more conservative about their finances, Fidelity found in a TNS Global survey of 1,017 people in that age bracket who hold a job and earn at least $15,000 a year.

In light of the economic crisis that exposed companies thought to be safe and well-established, but that had actually taken on far too much risk, New York Life Insurance has introduced a new stable-value offering for defined contribution plans and advisers that underscores its AAA rating.