Why did the General Board discontinue the Diversified Investment Fund (DIF) in April of 2004 and invest my employer contributions in market-based funds?
The main impact of this change was to transfer participants’ assets from a plan that protected participant balances from market fluctuations (DIF) directly into the market-based and daily-priced Multiple Asset Fund (MAF). The investment philosophy for investing MAF assets was the same as the investment philosophy and approach used for DIF. Accordingly, the General Board made no change to the underlying assets held by the General Board as a result of this transition. However, with the elimination of the reserve, the General Board transferred to participants the risk of daily fluctuation in the prices of the underlying securities. Hence, since April 2004, participants have seen their account balances increase and decrease based on the changes in the financial markets.
