S&P 500 Takes Participants, Sponsors On Wild Ride

April 25, 2001 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Participants and plan sponsors alike could certainly be experiencing motion sickness, with the daily change in the widely represented S&P 500 index hitting levels not seen in a half century.

According to Standard & Poor’s, the average daily change ? 1.25% – exceeds any comparable full-year figure on record since S&P began tracking the number in 1950.

The daily average beats the 1.13% recorded during the crash in October 1987, which saw the S&P 500 plummeting down 21.8% that month. It’s also higher than the 1.06% average daily change in 1974’s bear market .

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The S&P 500 lost about a third of its value between January first and its 2001 low on April 4. It since has reclaimed some of these losses and is currently 18% lower for the year.

Disability Coverage Inadequate for Many

April 24, 2001 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - A survey conducted by the Consumer Federation of America and the American Council of Life Insurers has found that 40% of workers have no long-term disability coverage.

Worse, nearly half of those that do, don’t believe the coverage is adequate.

Of the 500 workers surveyed,

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  • Two out of five had no long-term disability coverage
  • Almost three-quarters said that their finances would be adversely affected if they were unable to work for a year or longer.

“Under” Standing

Workers also have a poorer understanding of their disability benefits in comparison to their other benefits such as life insurance and retirement and pension benefits.

Of those covered by disability insurance,

  • some 43% said they did not know their basic long-term disability insurance benefit,
  • while 41% did not think their disability coverage adequate to protect their income.

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