%0 Journal Article %A Ganlin Xu %T The Risk Profiles of 401(k) Accounts %D 2015 %R 10.3905/jor.2015.2.3.067 %J The Journal of Retirement %P 67-77 %V 2 %N 3 %X This article examines the relationship between the riskiness of the portfolios of 401(k) plan participants, as gauged by the total risk, global beta, total equity, and U.S. and foreign equity exposures of their portfolios, and the participant’s age, gender, approach to investment, and whether he or she participates in a pension plan. The author finds evidence not only of behavioral biases affecting the investment decisions of investors with brokerage accounts, but also of two new apparent behavioral biases. First, participants with a defined-benefit pension plan do not take more risk, other things being equal, than participants without such a plan. Second, young active participants (participants who have made an active choice of their investments) take less risk compared with young passive participants, while older active participants take more risk than older passive participants.TOPICS: Retirement, risk management %U https://jor.pm-research.com/content/iijretire/2/3/67.full.pdf