401k fund Symbol confusion: e.g. SIA-WJ, SIA-WU, etc.

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Topic Author
MikeT
Posts: 418
Joined: Sun Jul 10, 2016 11:26 pm

401k fund Symbol confusion: e.g. SIA-WJ, SIA-WU, etc.

Post by MikeT »

My Mass Mutual 401k at work has funds but their symbols don't seem to be recognized by yahoo finance or morningstar.

What's up with that?

Here are some examples:

Oppen Fds Small Cap SIA-NM
Premier Value OFI Inst SIA-NV
Euro Pacific Growth American SIA-VB
American Century Growth SIA-WJ
Growth Franklin Templeton SIA-WU
Growth Baron SIA-WY

Thanks,
Mike
Bondman
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Joined: Sun May 08, 2016 6:06 pm

Re: 401k fund Symbol confusion: e.g. SIA-WJ, SIA-WU, etc.

Post by Bondman »

Hi,

I think the issue is that they aren't really classified as mutual funds, but investment trusts. It is in effect the same type of investment, but it's somewhat less transparent. I think the wiki has information about how to find funds on yahoo/morningstar to use as a proxy.
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ruralavalon
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Joined: Sat Feb 02, 2008 9:29 am
Location: Illinois

Re: 401k fund Symbol confusion: e.g. SIA-WJ, SIA-WU, etc.

Post by ruralavalon »

Those are probably Collective Investment Trusts (CITs), rather than mutual funds, and they are not publicly traded and do not have ticker symbols. In your 401k materials or on the 401k website there should be a fact sheet for each CIT which gives the CIT's investment strategy, holdings, performance, expense ratio, management team, and other details for each CIT.

Morningstar has a good description of CITs, just Google "what is a collective investment trust?"

Please see the wiki article "collective investment trusts".
"Everything should be as simple as it is, but not simpler." - Albert Einstein | Wiki article link: Bogleheads® investment philosophy
Topic Author
MikeT
Posts: 418
Joined: Sun Jul 10, 2016 11:26 pm

Re: 401k fund Symbol confusion: e.g. SIA-WJ, SIA-WU, etc.

Post by MikeT »

Thank you. Since posting my question, I decided to go 100% into my workplace 401k S&P 500 index fund with an expense ration of 0.62%. My average expense ratio for all the other funds I picked was 1.09%.

I will balance using my vanguard taxable account and vanguard roth to achieve my overall allocation.

Thanks,
Mike
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ruralavalon
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Joined: Sat Feb 02, 2008 9:29 am
Location: Illinois

Re: 401k fund Symbol confusion: e.g. SIA-WJ, SIA-WU, etc.

Post by ruralavalon »

MikeT wrote:Thank you. Since posting my question, I decided to go 100% into my workplace 401k S&P 500 index fund with an expense ration of 0.62%. My average expense ratio for all the other funds I picked was 1.09%.

I will balance using my vanguard taxable account and vanguard roth to achieve my overall allocation.

Thanks,
Mike
Good choice.
"Everything should be as simple as it is, but not simpler." - Albert Einstein | Wiki article link: Bogleheads® investment philosophy
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