Retirement plan participants with all of their savings in a target-date fund are the most likely to stay the course during tumultuous equity markets, according to research from T. Rowe Price.

Analysts measured participants’ trading activity during the summer of 2011 and 20 other periods of market volatility over a seven-year period.

The good news is that retirement plan participants overwhelmingly tend to stay the course during market downturns, no matter how they are invested.

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Nick Thornton

Nick Thornton is a financial writer covering retirement and health care issues for BenefitsPRO and ALM Media. He greatly enjoys learning from the vast minds in the legal, academic, advisory and money management communities when covering the retirement space. He's also written on international marketing trends, financial institution risk management, defense and energy issues, the restaurant industry in New York City, surfing, cigars, rum, travel, and fishing. When not writing, he's pushing into some land or water.