What are Oracle employee’s retirement investments?
Oracle offers a 401(k) retirement savings plan for its ~79,000 employees. Employees can choose to contribute a portion of their income to the plan.
But which investments do Oracle employees pick as retirement investments?
What is a 401(k) Retirement Savings Plan
A 401(k) plan is a retirement savings plan offered by employers in the United States. It allows employees to save a portion of their salary before taxes are applied, meaning they pay less in taxes upfront.
The money is then invested in various options within the plan, such as mutual funds. Employers may also contribute to the employee’s 401(k) account, usually by matching a percentage of the employee’s contributions.
The funds in a 401(k) grow on a tax-deferred basis until they are withdrawn during retirement, at which point they are subject to regular income tax.
Some plans also offer a Roth 401(k) options where contributions are made “after-tax”, and withdrawals are tax-free in retirement.
A 401(k) retirement savings plan is a type of defined contribution plan.
The Oracle 401(k) Plan
The Oracle plan allows for matching contributions. Oracle makes matching contributions in an amount equal to 50% of the first 6% of pre-tax compensation deferred by participants (up to max of $5,100 per year).
Form 5500 lists the investments Oracle 401(k) plan participants selected for their retirement funds. Giving us insight into how Oracle employees choose to invest for retirement.
401(k) plan sponsors are required to file Form 5500 with the Department of Labor each year.
So, what do Oracle select for retirement investments?
To start, similar to other large technology companies, Oracle allows employees to invest in their company stock (Oracle Corporation Common Stock).
Although directly investing in shares of Oracle Stock is an option, it is not a dominate holding for Oracle employees in their 401(k) accounts. Oracle employees select their company stock as the number 5 largest holding.
The single largest holding is the Fidelity Growth Company fund with 12% of total plan assets.
Very closely followed by the Vanguard Institutional 500 Index fund, also at 12% of plan assets. This fund tracks the performance of the S&P 500 Index, representing around 500 of the largest companies in the United States—a great choice for a core investment holding.
Like many tech company 401(k) plans, the Oracle plan offers Target Date Retirement Funds.
These funds are designed to shift their holdings as the target retirement year approaches. They gradually shift to more bonds and fewer equities. In other words, they become more conservative as time passes.
It is common for these target date funds to be among the largest holdings in a 401(k) plan. Yet, for Oracle, only two of these funds show up on the top 10 list.
The largest of these holdings is the Vanguard Target Retirement 2030, designed for people planning to retire around the year 2030. The Retirement 2035 fund is very close behind.
Plan assets as of 12/31/2021
(from Oracle’s 2022 filing of Form 5500)
| Top 10 Investments | % |
| Fidelity Growth Company | 12% |
| Vanguard Institutional 500 Index | 12% |
| Fidelity Contrafund | 10% |
| BrokerageLink Account | 8% |
| Oracle Corporation Common Stock | 5% |
| Galliard Stable Value Fund | 4% |
| Dodge & Cox Stock Fund | 4% |
| Vanguard Target Retirement 2030 | 4% |
| Vanguard Target Retirement 2035 | 4% |
| Fidelity Balanced Fund | 3% |
See the Oracle 401(k) page for additional plan details and value of holdings.
Oracle’s Retirement Distribution
The distribution of assets in Vanguard target date retirement funds—provide a rough view of participating employee ages.
The largest holdings are in the Vanguard Target Retirement 2030 and 2035 target funds. These investments should represent employees who plan to retire in the next 5 to 15 years.
Source: 2021 Form 5500 for Oracle’s 401k plan
