Pure Benchmarks · Portfolio Benchmark Report
Is Your Merrill Small Business 401k Portfolio Underperforming?
Merrill Small Business 401k administers employer-sponsored plans, where a bounded fund menu and default options constrain the mix.
Pure Benchmarks ranks real Merrill Small Business 401k portfolios against thousands of other verified investor portfolios across nine standardized risk categories, from 100% equity to 90% fixed income. Every portfolio is recategorized daily from actual end-of-day holdings, and Community Nests shows exactly where your Merrill Small Business 401k portfolio ranks against other real Merrill Small Business 401k clients in the same risk category — built entirely from verified portfolio data, with no firm that manages money able to see any data point on the platform.
Why your Merrill Small Business 401k portfolio can lag a pure index baseline
The default-menu ceiling. Workplace plans limit choices to a set menu and often default balances into a single target-date fund. Convenient defaults and a bounded fund list can quietly hold the allocation away from a broad low-cost index baseline.
What to review on a Merrill Small Business 401k portfolio
- Confirm which funds in the plan menu carry the lowest expense ratios versus the defaults.
- Compare the workplace allocation with a simple diversified index over time.
Illustrative 10-year comparison — a standard managed portfolio versus a pure index baseline. Figures are illustrative only.
| Year | Standard managed portfolio | Pure index baseline | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year 1 | $105,200 | $107,000 | -$1,800 |
| Year 3 | $116,400 | $122,500 | -$6,100 |
| Year 5 | $128,700 | $140,300 | -$11,600 |
| Year 7 | $142,300 | $160,600 | -$18,300 |
| Year 10 | $165,100 | $196,700 | -$31,600 |
See exactly where your Merrill Small Business 401k portfolio stands.
One clean report against a pure index baseline. No email required.
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This page is an information baseline for comparison only. It is not investment advice and not a recommendation to buy, sell, replace, or transfer any specific asset, account, or firm. Past performance does not guarantee future results. All figures shown are illustrative.