Wilshire Trust Universe Comparison Service Reports Positive Third Quarter of 2025 with 4.11% Gross Return

11/10/2025Wilshire Trust Universe Comparison Service Reports Positive Third Quarter of 2025 with 4.11% Gross ReturnU.S. and international public equities produced strong gains‍‍Santa Monica, Calif., November 10, 2025 - Institutional assets tracked by Wilshire Trust Universe Comparison Service® (Wilshire TUCS®) posted an all-plan median gross return of 4.11% for the third quarter and 9.59% for the 12 months ending September 30, 2025. Wilshire TUCS, a cooperative effort between Wilshire and custodial organizations, is widely considered the definitive benchmark for U.S. institutional plan assets performance and allocation."Investor confidence remains tentative amid mixed economic signals and an uncertain inflationary outlook. The U.S. economy has shown surface-level stability, buoyed by fiscal stimulus, deregulation, AI-driven productivity gains and resilient personal consumption that has been supported by the wealth effect from higher asset prices," said Josh Emanuel, CIO of Wilshire. "Public plans, corporate plans and foundations and endowments all underperformed a traditional global 60/40 portfolio. Smaller plans, with lower allocations to alternatives, generally outperformed larger plans," Emanuel added.U.S. equities, represented by the FT Wilshire 5000 IndexSM, rose 8.24% in the third quarter and by 17.46% for the 12 months ending in September; meanwhile, international equities, represented by the MSCI AC World ex U.S., returned 6.89% in the third quarter and 16.45% for the past year. U.S. bonds, represented by the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Index, returned 2.03% in the third quarter with a gain of 2.88% for the one-year.Across all plan types, quarterly median returns ranged from 3.67% to 4.68% for large corporate funds (assets above $1 billion) and small public funds (assets below $1 billion), respectively. One-year median returns ranged from 5.85% to 10.41% for large corporate funds and large foundations and endowments (assets above $500 million), respectively.For the quarter, median public plans, corporate plans and foundations and endowments underperformed the global 60/40 portfolio gain of 5.36%. Small public plans outperformed all other sizes and plan types in the third quarter due to relatively high allocations to public equities. Allocation trends continue to show significant exposure for large foundations and endowments to alternatives, with a median third quarter allocation above 50%. Large corporate and public funds had median third quarter allocations to alternatives of 20.8% and 20.6%, respectively.Wilshire TUCS Plan Returns versus Global 60/40 - ThirdQuarter 2025For illustrative and discussion purposes only.For the past 12 months, all large and small plan groups underperformed the 11.43% gain for the global 60/40 portfolio. Large plans underperformed small for public and corporate plans but outperformed with foundations and endowments, due mostly to smaller allocations to investment grade bonds.Wilshire TUCS Plan Returns versus Global 60/40 - Year Ending September 2025For illustrative and discussion purposes only.Large plans (assets above $1 billion) overall posted a gain of 3.96% for the quarter and of 9.85% for the year ending September 30, 2025; meanwhile small plans (assets less than $1 billion) outperformed large for the quarter with a return of 4.24% but trailed for the past year with a return of 9.53%, respectively.‍About WilshireWilshire is a leading global financial services firm and trusted partner to a diverse range of approximately 300 leading institutional investors and financial intermediaries.1 Our clients rely on us to improve investment outcomes for a better future. Wilshire advises on over $1.5 trillion in assets and manages $125 billion in assets as of June 30, 2025.2 Wilshire is headquartered in the United States with offices worldwide. More information on Wilshire can be found at https://www.wilshire.com-----1 Includes institutional investors, financial intermediaries, and Wilshire-sponsored vehicles. Does not include individual retirement plans and retail investors via financial intermediary platforms.2 Assets under advisement refers to the total amount of assets (inclusive of assets under management) attributable to all of Wilshire's advisory relationships, including various consulting and advisory relationships for which Wilshire provides investment advisory services without engaging, on either a discretionary or non-discretionary basis, in the direct management of a client's portfolio. Assets under management refers to the amount of assets attributable to securities portfolios for which Wilshire provides discretionary and non-discretionary asset management services and is calculated differently than "regulatory assets under management.Wilshire TUCS®The Wilshire TUCS® Benchmarks reflect the invested universe of U.S. fund sponsors and the assets (U.S.) they represent in the Wilshire TUCS database. Available quarterly, the Wilshire TUCS® has both plan level and portfolio level designations that delineate to which universe they belong. Wilshire TUCS® benchmarks provide performance, allocation and risk quartiles based on the multiple-sponsor, plan type, asset class and asset size universes. Provided in the traditional "blind" quartile break format, these benchmarks reflect Wilshire Associates' recognition of a plan sponsor's desire for anonymity, while also providing a powerful benchmark for the investment manager and advisor firm. Wilshire TUCS data is comprised of plans contributed by the participating custodian bank and is calculated using accounting inputs and computational methods standards. These standards were established to ensure the accuracy and comparability of data in the universe.Index DefinitionsBloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index - The Bloomberg US Aggregate Index is a broad-based fixed-income benchmark that measures the investment grade, US dollar-denominated, fixed-rate taxable bond market. The index includes Treasuries, government-related and corporate securities, MBS (agency fixed-rate pass-throughs), ABS and CMBS (agency and non-agency).‍FT Wilshire US 5000 Index - The FT Wilshire US 5000 Index is a broad-based market capitalization-weighted index that aims to capture 100% of the US investible market capitalization.MSCI ACWI ex USA Index - The MSCI ACWI ex USA Index captures large- and mid-cap representation across developed markets countries (excluding the United States) and emerging markets countries. The index covers approximately 85% of the global equity opportunity set outside the United States.Wilshire Risk Parity Index - 12% Target Volatility - The Wilshire Risk Parity Index - 12% Target Volatility is designed to measure the performance of a multi-asset risk parity strategy that allocates risk equally among three risk baskets: equity, rates and inflation while targeting an ex-ante volatility level of 12%.‍Important Information Wilshire is a global financial services firm providing diverse services to various types of investors and intermediaries. Wilshire's products, services, investment approach and advice may differ between clients and all of Wilshire's products and services may not be available to all clients. For more information regarding Wilshire's services, please see Wilshire's ADV Part 2 available at https://www.wilshire.com/ADV.This material is intended for informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal, accounting, tax, investment, or other professional advice. This material contains proprietary information of Wilshire. It may not be disclosed, reproduced, or otherwise distributed, in whole or in part, to any other person or entity without prior written permission from Wilshire.This material represents the current opinion of Wilshire and is subject to change without notice. Wilshire assumes no duty to update any such opinions. Wilshire believes that the information obtained from third party sources contained herein is reliable, but has not undertaken to verify such information. Wilshire gives no representations or warranties as to the accuracy of such information, and accepts no responsibility or liability (including for indirect, consequential or incidental damages) for any error, omission or inaccuracy in such information and for results obtained from its use.Wilshire Advisors LLC (Wilshire) is an investment advisor registered with the SEC. Wilshire® is a registered service mark. All other trade names, trademarks, and/or service marks are the property of their respective holders.Wilshire®, Trust Universe Comparison Service® and TUCS® are registered service marks of Wilshire Advisors LLC, Santa Monica, California. Copyright © 2025 Wilshire. All rights reserved.M836686 E0126Download PDF