COLLECTED WISDOM™ on Target-Date Funds

Target-Date funds have become popular with 401k plan sponsors, vendors and participants, but choosing the appropriate target-date fund for a plan is not easy.

This archive contains not only the most current material on the topic, but also older items that are still relevant, provide background, perspective or are germane to the topic.

If you find a broken link or an items that you feel is outdate, irrelevant or no longer appropriate, please let us know.

2022 Was Rough Year for Near-retirees in Target-Date Funds

Last year was a difficult one for mutual funds and ETFs generally, but a category of all-in-one products that serve as the backbone of 401ks -- target-date funds -- offered almost no shelter for people on the cusp of retirement. While stock and bond allocations hurt the performance of TDFs last year, fees declined and assets flowed to collective investment trusts, Morningstar found.

Source: Investmentnews.com, March 2023

CITs to Overtake Mutual Funds in Battle for Target-Date Assets

Lower-cost collective investment trusts continue to eat away at mutual funds' hold on target-date funds and are expected to be the primary target-date vehicle in 2023, a new report suggests.

Source: Napa-net.org, February 2023

Microsoft Escapes Retirement Plan TDF Suit

A U.S. District Court judge on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit against Microsoft Corporation claiming that the BlackRock LifePath Index Funds suite of target-date funds was an imprudent investment choice for Microsoft's retirement plan participants.

Source: Planadviser.com, February 2023

Another BlackRock TDF Suit Dismissed

Another of the suits challenging plan fiduciaries' retention of the BlackRock LifePath target-date funds has been dismissed, but with an opportunity to remedy its shortcomings. This one had been filed against Microsoft back in August, alleging, that the plan fiduciaries "…employed a fundamentally irrational decision-making process (i.e., inconsistent with their duty of prudence) contrary to basic economics and established investment theory."

Source: Napa-net.org, February 2023

TDF Flows Jump 35%, but CITs Are Stealing Growth

Target-date funds continued to reign supreme among retirement savers last year, but new data shows collective investment trust funds may keep them from regaining the heights of a few years ago. Retirement savers boosted TDF contributions in 2022 at a 35% higher rate than in 2021, well off the negative flows seen in 2020 at the height of the pandemic, according to the latest data from investment research provider Morningstar.

Source: Planadviser.com, January 2023

Research Shows Workers' Poor Grasp of Target-Date Funds

The MFS Retirement Outlook 2023 survey found gaps between workers' understanding of how target-date funds work and how they function, revealing fundamental misunderstandings that require participant education. These misunderstandings can have implications for saving, investing, and living in retirement, explained Jon Barry, head of client solutions for the investment services group at MFS.

Source: Plansponsor.com, January 2023

2022 Custom Target-Date Fund Study

Over the past 15 years, target-date funds have become foundational in the defined contribution (DC) system. This study was launched in 2017, to provide insight into custom target-date fund solutions (cTDFs), including their basic structure, asset allocation, asset class exposure, and returns. 2022 is the third iteration of the study, evaluating data through year-end 2021. The analysis represents cTDF assets of $516 billion across plans with over $1.5 trillion in assets collectively. A total of 14 organizations that manage cTDFs participated in the study.

Source: Dciia.org, December 2022

Shareholder Activist Targets Target-Date Funds

The BlackRock Lifepath target-date funds have been targeted again, not in litigation, but by a shareholder activism group for their inclusion on a 401k menu.

Source: Napa-net.org, December 2022

The Great Debate: Target-Date Funds vs. Managed Accounts

On December 8, 2022, Retireholics hosted a debate on a topic that is on many people's minds in the 401k industry. Which is better: target-date funds or managed accounts? TDFs are the most popular Qualified Default Investment Alternative with MAs a distant second, but that could change with the current unraveling in TDFs.

Source: 401kspecialistmag.com, December 2022

Coming Soon to a 401k Plan Near You: Personalized Target-Date Accounts

Managed accounts are the second most popular choice of QDIA. But before you switch to a managed account you should consider an emerging disruptive innovation that combines managed accounts with TDFs, providing the better characteristics of both. We call this innovation Personalized Target Date Accounts.

Source: 401kspecialistmag.com, November 2022

Webcast: Current Trends in Target-Date Fund Litigation

Litigation of 401k plan fees and investment fund performance is on the rise. This webcast provides a review of recent 401k litigation cases, trends involving both active and index/passive target-date funds, and fiduciary best practices to avoid litigation.

Source: Fiducientadvisors.com, November 2022

Annuities as Part of Target-Date Funds Grow in Popularity

For plan sponsors considering an in-plan retirement income option, defined contribution plan consultants are most likely (68%) to recommend target-date funds with a guaranteed income component, followed by a TDF with an income vintage (50%), a new report shows. The report from Cerulli Associates finds the target-date options were followed by a managed account (36%), as the next most likely recommendation from defined contribution consultants for in-plan retirement income offerings.

Source: Planadviser.com, October 2022

New Wave of ERISA Class Actions Accuse Fiduciaries Of 'Imprudently' Using Low-Fee, High-Rated Funds, Like Blackrock TDFs

Retirement plan sponsors are fake fiduciaries if they offer cheap, highly rated funds from premium brands in 401k plans without factoring in fund performance, according to a fresh wave of ERISA class action cases. Most of the 11 outstanding class actions allege that plan sponsors chose BlackRock LifePath target-date funds as their default 401k option simply because they had the superficial markings of a fiduciary process rather than engaging in an authentic one.

Source: Riabiz.com, September 2022

Target-Date Funds and the Ever-Evolving Glidepath

In 2021 and the first half of 2022, multiple TDF providers announced changes to their strategic target-date fund glidepaths. The timing of these changes was unique, as capital markets adjusted to a post-pandemic world and a vastly different global outlook. To better understand the nature and extent of these changes, Callan leveraged the data that they gather for their proprietary TDF analytics, which allows them to track broad TDF asset allocation trends.

Source: Callan.com, September 2022

Is It a Breach of Fiduciary Duty to Include Target-Date Funds in 401k Plans?

One of the themes of many excessive fee suits is that the inclusion of particular products in plans is, in and of itself, evidence of a fiduciary breach, when the real question in such a suit, even if a product was overpriced, should be whether it was imprudent for the fiduciary to have included that product. As the cliche goes, you get what you pay for, and a plan fiduciary's job is to assemble a prudent collection of investment options, not just assemble the cheapest one possible.

Source: Bostonerisalaw.com, September 2022

CUNA's 401k Latest Targeted in BlackRock TDF Suit

The law firm of Miller Shah LLP has targeted another plan they claim "appear[s] to have chased the low fees charged by the BlackRock TDFs without any consideration of their ability to generate return." This time it's the fiduciaries of the $865 million CUNA Mutual 401k Plan for Non-Represented Employees.

Source: Napa-net.org, August 2022

More TDF Underperformance ERISA Lawsuits Filed

This summer, plaintiffs represented by the increasingly active law firm Miller Shah LLP have filed a cluster of new ERISA lawsuits. The defendants in the cases include well-known national employers across the U.S., including Citigroup, Stanley Black & Decker, Booz Allen, Capital One, Wintrust, Cisco, and Genworth. The lawsuits all include nearly identical ERISA fiduciary breach allegations against the defendants, but these allegations stand in sharp contrast to the broader landscape of ERISA litigation.

Source: Planadviser.com, August 2022

A Guide Path for Your Glide Path(s)

A recent report and a new wave of litigation remind us that all target-date funds are not designed the same. A recent Morningstar whitepaper cautioned that "through" glide paths generally include around 13 percentage points more in equity at age 65 than their peers invested in "to" glide paths, as the average "through" series holds 46% in stocks versus just 33% for the average "to" series. That makes them riskier (or at least more volatile), and potentially riskier than those who defaulted into those options may know, or desire.

Source: Napa-net.org, August 2022

Target-Date Funds: Evaluating and Selecting

The Qualified Default Investment Alternative investment decision is among the most important investment-related decisions a plan sponsor will make on behalf of plan participants. The selection of a target-date fund is likely to have the greatest impact on the largest number of participants and their ability to achieve their retirement objectives. Target-date products are relatively immune to participant inaction because they evolve as participants age. This characteristic makes target-date funds the most attractive QDIA and the most complex alternative. Because the decision is so critical, it carries major fiduciary implications.

Source: Fiducientadvisors.com, August 2022

Lawsuit Accuses Fiduciaries of Chasing Low Fees Without Regard to Performance

Microsoft Corporation is the target of a new complaint in a series of lawsuits claiming that the BlackRock LifePath Index Funds suite of 10 target-date funds was an imprudent investment choice for defined contribution plans. The lawsuits accuse the defendants of selecting and retaining "poorly-performing investments instead of offering more prudent alternative investments that were readily available at the time."

Source: Planadviser.com, August 2022

Booz Allen Hamilton, Others Face Passive TDF Performance Lawsuits

Unlike many other ERISA lawsuits, the complaints suggest the plan fiduciaries in question should have considered more expensive target-date funds that might have performed better. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, naming as defendants Booz Allen Hamilton Inc., the company's board of trustees, and various committees tasked with operating the management and technology consulting firm's defined contribution retirement plan.

Source: Planadviser.com, August 2022

BlackRock TDF Targeted in Another Suit

Claiming that the plan fiduciaries "...employed a fundamentally irrational decision-making process (i.e., inconsistent with their duty of prudence) contrary to basic economics and established investment theory," a new suit involving the BlackRock LifePath target-date funds has been filed.

Source: Napa-net.org, August 2022

Morningstar Urges DOL to Revisit TDF Guidance

While many employers do consider their participants' needs when selecting target-date fund glide paths, a new white paper argues there is too much homogeneity given the heterogeneity of workers' needs. As such, more can be done, say Morningstar Senior Analyst Lia Mitchell and Retirement Studies head Aron Szapiro, who examined the glide paths that plan sponsors use in different sectors and offer recommendations to the Department of Labor.

Source: Asppa.org, August 2022

Way Too Much Risk in 401k Target-Date Fund Glide Paths: Morningstar

The Morningstar Center for Retirement & Policy Studies found that target-date fund sponsors may expose individual investors to increased risk by not tailoring plan glide paths to their behavior. The center reports that 58% of DC plan assets are invested in off-the-shelf TDFs, many of which are designed for participants to stay in the plan through their retirement, even in cases when they are likely to roll their money out of the plan at retirement. This mismatch could leave participants overly exposed to equities later in their careers.

Source: 401kspecialistmag.com, July 2022

Out of Sequence: Why TDF Risk Near Retirement Is a Bad Bet

Retirement researchers have documented the importance of Sequence-of-Returns Risk and the Risk Zone. Losses sustained in the five to 10 years before and after retirement can do irreparable harm. It's a gauntlet we each must run once. But target-date funds do not protect against this risk, ending 85% in risky assets at their target retirement date: 50% in equities plus 35% in risky long-term bonds.

Source: 401kspecialistmag.com, July 2022

Younger 401k Participants Really Like TDFs, New Study Finds

Target-date fund investing continues to be prevalent in 401k plans, particularly among younger participants, according to an updated joint study released today by the Investment Company Institute and the Employee Benefit Research Institute.

Source: 401kspecialistmag.com, May 2022

Employers Less Sure that Traditional Target-Date Funds Meet Employees' Retirement Needs

Employers are also increasingly concerned about their employees not saving enough for retirement (66% in 2022 v. 57% in 2020) and risking outliving their savings (63% in 2022 v. 58% in 2020). Almost three-quarters of employers (72%) now say they are highly interested in a new generation of TDFs that gear towards some allocation of lifetime income. Here are the full survey results.

Source: Tiaa.org, April 2022

Guaranteed Income Options May Boost Retirement Confidence

More employers are starting to question whether traditional target-date funds -- the default retirement-plan option for millions of Americans -- are setting up employees for success after they stop working, according to TIAA's newly released 2022 Retirement Insights Survey. Interest in access to guaranteed lifetime income in retirement rose during the pandemic, but education and adoption have been slow.

Source: Planadviser.com, April 2022

Employer Skepticism of "Traditional" Target-Date Funds Grows

Concerns from employers over the effectiveness of what it calls traditional target-date funds in achieving successful retirement outcomes are on the rise, according to new research from TIAA. The survey revealed that 66% of employers feel TDFs will help employees meet their retirement income needs, down from 78% in a previous survey in 2020.

Source: 401kspecialistmag.com, April 2022

Record Growth of CITs Spurs Rebound of Contributions to Target-Date Strategies

On the heels of releasing its inaugural Retirement Plan Landscape Report earlier this month, Morningstar today published its annual Target-Date Strategy Landscape Report, which found that total assets in target-date strategies grew to a record $3.27 trillion at the end of 2021, nearly a 20% increase over the previous year. The 2022 report also examines the growing trend of collective investment trusts as plan sponsors' preferred target-date vehicle, how fees continue to be a key driver in target-date selection, and primary differences between "to" versus "through" glide paths.

Source: 401kspecialistmag.com, March 2022

Another Suit Targets "Untested" TDFs

The $741 million, 15,686 participant plan is accused primarily of causing the plan to invest in flexPATH's "untested target-date funds, which replaced established and well-performing target-date funds used by participants to meet their retirement needs." The plan fiduciaries are also alleged to have "failed to use the Plan's bargaining power to obtain reasonable investment management fees, which caused unreasonable expenses to be charged to the Plan."

Source: Napa-net.org, March 2022

Latest 401k Fee Suit Targets Custom Funds, RK Fees

Another excessive fee suit targets recordkeeping fees, actively managed funds, and a custom target-date fund series. As of December 31, 2020, the plan in question had 15,062 participants with account balances and assets totaling approximately $3.45 billion, according to the suit.

Source: Asppa.org, February 2022

Understanding Default Investments: A Focus on Target-Date Funds

The DOL doesn't mandate which types of plans should use which types of QDIA solutions. However, there are some best practice considerations to make when determining which QDIA structure may work best for your plan. Target-date funds have become the default of defaults, meaning the most frequently used solution for plan sponsors. It falls in a sweet spot of complexity/customization/cost. This article walks plan sponsors through all QDIA solutions with a special focus on target-date funds.

Source: Multnomahgroup.com, February 2022

Friend or Foe? The Role of Duration in Target-Date Funds

Within target-date funds, duration can be an investor's friend, particularly during dramatic equity market drawdowns. But, left unchecked, duration can become a source of unwarranted interest-rate risk as an investor nears and enters retirement and the portfolio becomes less equity and more fixed-income oriented.

Source: Jhinvestments.com, February 2022

After Supreme Court Ruling, Are TDFs a Ticking Time Bomb of Fiduciary Liability?

The Supreme Court did not rule on the viability of Hughes' claim nor on whether the case should be heard. It just stated that the Seventh Circuit cannot dismiss the case in the manner which it did. The Seventh Circuit must now reconsider whether to dismiss the case. Despite the nature of the Hughes case, the wording in the Supreme Court decision may have an impact on how other 401k cases are treated.

Source: Fiduciarynews.com (registration may be required), January 2022

The Wall Street Journal Takes Aim at Target-Date Funds

A column in The Wall Street Journal citing research circulated by the National Bureau of Economic Research criticizes target date funds' one-size-fits-all approach. Author Mark Hulbert's gripe is that glide paths consider too few variables, something reflected in the research.

Source: 401kspecialistmag.com, January 2022

Older 401k Participants Moving to TDFs More So Than Younger Participants

401k plan participants -- especially those in older age cohorts -- have been increasing their exposure to target-date funds, according to a report from the Employee Benefit Research Institute and Investment Company Institute. Participants in their 50s and 60s are using TDFs more than they have in the past, according to a new EBRI and ICI report.

Source: Planadviser.com, October 2021

Walgreen Co. Agrees to Settle Suit Challenging Underperforming TDFs

Plaintiffs in a lawsuit alleging fiduciaries of the Walgreen Profit-Sharing Retirement Plan breached their fiduciary duties by selecting and retaining poorly performing target-date funds for the plan have filed a motion for preliminary approval of a settlement agreement. The challenged target-date funds have already been taken out of the plan, and the defendants have agreed to pay $13.75 million into a settlement fund.

Source: Planadviser.com, October 2021

Managed Accounts and TDFs Better Together Than Apart, Research

For years plan sponsors and consultants have compared the outcomes of managed accounts and target-date funds within workplace retirement plans. The thinking was that plan sponsors and consultants should choose one or the other to offer retirement plan participants. New research and analysis from Empower Institute show that managed accounts and target-date funds instead complement each other and together can improve investors' retirement savings outcomes.

Source: Empower-retirement.com, October 2021

What the Pandemic Taught Us About Target-Date Funds

The ability to "set it and forget it" has long made target-date funds an appealing investment for defined contribution participants. They can leave it to investment professionals to manage allocations and dial down risk as retirement nears. Yet 2020 highlighted another type of risk to TDF investors, the risk that severe volatility could prompt rash selling that crystallizes losses. Such was the case last March when the spreading COVID-19 pandemic spooked markets.

Source: Plansponsor.com, September 2021

District Court Dismisses Investment and Recordkeeping Claims Against 401k Plan Fiduciaries

A Kentucky federal district court ruled that a participant in CommonSpirit Health's 401k plan failed to state plausible claims for breach of fiduciary duty related to the fees and performance of actively managed target-date funds and recordkeeping fee. The court first rejected the plaintiff's claim that the plan fiduciaries should have offered a passively managed target-date suite instead of a more expensive and underperforming actively managed target-date suite because "actively managed funds and passively managed funds are not ideal comparators."

Source: Erisapracticecenter.com, September 2021

TDF Usage Increases as Younger Participants Invest

The EBRI and ICI have found that participants are increasingly using target-date funds to save for retirement, especially younger participants. The new report by the two organizations found more 401k plan participants are using the funds than in the past. Fifty-one percent of 401k plan assets owned by participants in their 20s were invested in TDFs, versus 23% for those in their 60s.

Source: Planadviser.com, September 2021

Target-Date Funds: Evidence Points to Growing Popularity and Appropriate Use by 401k Plan Participants

Since 1996, the EBRI and the ICI have worked together on collecting and analyzing annual data on millions of 401k plan participants' accounts. This 21-page report analyzes 401k plan participant's use of target-date funds using year-end 2018 data from the EBRI/ICI 401k database. Key findings are summarized.

Source: Ebri.org, September 2021

Managing Inflation Within Target-Date Strategies

Target retirement strategies continue to grow as a leading default vehicle, offering professionally managed, age-appropriate portfolios that automatically rebalance to keep participants on target. However, there are key differences between providers in how each strategy manages key investment risks as they evolve in importance for participants at each stage of their careers. Inflation is one of these key investment risks that need to be managed to deliver successful retirement outcomes.

Source: Ssga.com, August 2021

Tips for Evaluating a Target-Date Fund

Since target-date funds were introduced to the Canadian market in the early 2000s, they've become the dominant investment choice for defined contribution pension plan members. The funds, which are balanced with dynamic asset mixes that adjust as members approach retirement, are offered in a series with each fund designed to offer an optimal asset mix for investors with similar time horizons to retirement. But there are key differentiating factors to consider when evaluating different TDF options.

Source: Benefitscanada.com, August 2021

Target-Date Funds: Facing Increasing Congressional, Regulatory, and Legal Scrutiny

Target-date funds have become a very popular investment option on participant-directed defined contribution plan investment lineups. But, as TDFs have grown in popularity, there are signs of increasing scrutiny around TDFs used in participant-directed defined contribution plan investment lineups. This increasing scrutiny is expected to raise new regulatory initiatives generating new questions and may favor increased process review by ERISA plan fiduciaries.

Source: Morganlewis.com, July 2021

Many 401k Investors Don't Use Target-Date Funds the Right Way

Target-date funds have ballooned in popularity over the past 15 years, yet many investors aren't using them the way they were intended. The funds were designed as a one-stop-shop that put retirement savings on autopilot. Investors are meant to park their nest egg in one fund, generally based on their retirement year, which automatically shifts from stocks to bonds over time. However, a third of investors aren't limiting themselves to one target-date fund, according to 401k data from Vanguard. They're piling other funds on top.

Source: Cnbc.com, July 2021

2021 Target-Date Fund Survey

In the past decade, and particularly since the passage of the Pension Protection Act of 2006, asset allocation funds -- which include target-date funds -- have exploded both in terms of the number of products and assets amassed. They have also become more customized. This Target-Date Fund guide endeavors to present information about these funds and providers in an easy-to-use format for quick reference.

Source: Plansponsor.com, June 2021

Target-Date Funds: A 'Time Bomb' in a Retirement Tool for the Masses?

A congressional committee has asked the GAO to investigate target-date funds. Ron Surz calls TDFs a "time bomb," saying they hold too much risk near the target retirement date. But many believe TDFs are a valuable tool to help inexperienced investors build sensible retirement portfolios.

Source: Thinkadvisor.com, June 2021

Contributions to TDFs Fell As the Market Rebound Increased Assets

A Morningstar report has found retirement savers' contributions continued to suffer even as the markets rebounded from last year's volatility. The findings were reported in Morningstar's 2021 "Target-Date Strategy Landscape Report," which said flows into target-date funds and collective investment trusts sank to $52.3 billion last year, a 59% decline from the previous year.

Source: Plansponsor.com, May 2021

The Latest Attack on Target-Date Funds

"The Unintended Consequences of Investing for the Long Run: Evidence from Target Date Funds," is a new academic investment paper. The paper, by Massimo Massa, Rabih Moussawi, and Andrei Simonov, fiercely criticizes its subject. The authors find that target-date funds underperform other funds to a "staggering" degree. This shortfall occurs because target-date funds "exploit" their relatively captive audiences, which are unlikely to punish subpar returns by redeeming their shares. For a similar reason, target-date funds also get away with "fee skimming."

Source: Morningstar.com, May 2021

DOL Assessing Guidance on Private Equity in TDFs

Amid ongoing questions surrounding the use of private equity investments in professionally managed funds within 401ks, a senior DOL official confirmed that the department is conducting stakeholder outreach to assess the issue.

Source: Napa-net.org, May 2021

Congressional Leaders Call for GAO Review of TDFs

The Chairpersons of two of the leading retirement plan committees in Congress are calling for a review of target-date funds. Sen. Patty Murray, Chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions, and Rep. Robert Scott, Chairman of the House Committee on Education & Labor, have written to the head of the Government Accountability Office, asking them to conduct a review of target-date funds.

Source: Napa-net.org, May 2021

CITs Approaching Half of Target-Date Assets

Collective investment trusts are on pace to overtake mutual funds as the dominant target-date vehicle, data from a Morningstar report published today show. CITs represented 43% of target-date assets at the end of last year, up from just 18% in 2014, according to Morningstar's Target-Date Strategy Landscape report. Assets in those investments surpassed $1 trillion last year, reaching about $1.18 trillion, compared with $1.57 trillion in target-date mutual funds.

Source: Investmentnews.com (registration may be required), March 2021

Evaluating Target-Date Funds Is a Fiduciary Responsibility

Many fiduciaries responsible for selecting their 401k plan's target-date funds don't understand how these funds work. The risk of staying ignorant is increasing. Lawsuits challenging target-date fund selection are on the rise, and plan fiduciaries need to be able to defend their choices in response to these suits. New products, such as target-date funds that provide lifetime income options or make private equity investments are becoming available. For all of these reasons, if target-date funds are included in a plan's investment menu, fiduciaries need to develop a prudent process for evaluating the funds in partnership with their investment professionals.

Source: Cohenbuckmann.com, March 2021

Target-Date Funds Continue Their 401k DC Plan Domination

Little surprise, target-date funds are a popular choice for 401k plans' investment lineups, especially among younger participants. An updated study from the Investment Company Institute and the Employee Benefit Research Institute found that younger 401k plan participants have large allocations to target-date funds, being both more likely to hold target-date funds than older participants.

Source: 401kspecialistmag.com, March 2021

Understanding TDF Glide Paths

Glide paths aren't just a change in equity and fixed income allocations, there are changes to investment types, too. Understanding how a TDF's glide path works -- how equities and fixed-income-type investments shift as investors age -- is necessary for DC plan sponsors to fulfill their fiduciary duties in fund selection and monitoring plan investments.

Source: Plansponsor.com, February 2021

What to Consider When Selecting a QDIA

When selecting a QDIA, there are many variables to consider. This paper is the third in a series of papers and presents the perspectives of managed accounts providers and target-date fund providers as well as investment consultants and ERISA counsel where relevant. The paper poses several questions that a typical committee might ask when evaluating a QDIA, whether the QDIA is a professionally managed account program or one composed of target-date funds.

Source: Ymaws.com, November 2020

Target-Date Funds: Strategic and Active Management

Because they're targeting results over the long term, target-date funds are inherently strategic, but active asset allocation management may be a useful tool to add incremental sources of return over time. The article looks at the differences between strategic and active asset allocation and the roles these investment styles play in target-date funds.

Source: Jhinvestments.com, October 2020

Are Target-Date Funds a Good Choice for Your 401k?

Nearly every retirement plan offers target-date funds as investment options. But are target-date funds a good choice? The age-based method of setting your asset allocation makes sense in some cases, but investors can also stay in a target-date fund too long. Put another way, if your financial situation has evolved, shouldn't your investment strategy? Here's how to decide if target-date funds are a good choice for your retirement account.

Source: Forbes.com, July 2020

Avoid Manager Concentration Risk With an Open-Architecture Target-Date Fund

As ERISA fiduciaries, plan sponsors are required to offer participants a menu that's diversified by investment type, but most defined contribution plan sponsors go further and diversify by an investment manager, too. Why? Because they recognize that different managers have different, often complementary, strengths. Yet that way of thinking doesn't always extend to a sponsor's choice of a target-date fund manager, which may expose participants to manager-concentration risk.

Source: Jhinvestments.com, July 2020

Three New ERISA Lawsuits Bash Actively Managed TDFs

A participant in Costco's retirement plan filed a lawsuit claiming the fiduciaries of the plan breached their duties under ERISA by authorizing the plan to provide inappropriately expensive and underperforming active management funds. Similar allegations are echoed in three new lawsuits filed this week against Quest Diagnostics, IQVIA Holdings, and Eversource. All three suits question the use of actively managed funds provided by Fidelity, although the asset manager is not itself named as a defendant in any of the complaints.

Source: Planadviser.com, July 2020

Rethinking the Role of Fixed Income Along the Retirement Savings Journey: From Theory to Practice

This paper takes the retirement savings journey from theory to practice by sharing views on how fixed income should evolve across a TDF glide path, exploring both the absolute level of the fixed income allocation and its composition in terms of fixed income sub-asset classes.

Source: Mfs.com, June 2020

Target Retirement Date Funds in Q1 2020

Most exchanges done by target-date investors during the first quarter were done by older participants in vintages closest to retirement. Many factors may be behind this behavior, including investors closest to retirement have larger balances and are more concerned with sequencing risk; older investors have potentially greater experience with market selloffs, or simply those closest to retirement may be naturally "spooked" by volatility spikes. This participant behavior is worrisome to many market observers, as participants who deviated the most from their strategic allocations were those with the largest account balances and the shortest investment horizons.

Source: Fiallc.com, May 2020

COVID-19 Market Tests Basic TDF Design

Target-date funds saw negative returns across the board during the first quarter, but those with aggressive stock allocations at their target dates hit those nearing retirement hardest, according to a report from Morningstar.

Source: Investmentnews.com (registration may be required), May 2020

Are Your Target-Date Funds a Prudent Investment? COVID-19 Puts Spotlight on Fiduciary Choices

COVID-19 may have accelerated a reckoning for fiduciaries who have not fulfilled their responsibilities for target-date fund selection. Those who simply selected their vendor's funds without investigation and financial firms that selected their proprietary funds for their plans, especially funds without good track records, are probably most at risk. However, fiduciaries with exposure can begin to reduce that exposure by reviewing their selections and implementing a prudent review process. Here are some questions frequently asked about target-date fund selection.

Source: Cohenbuckmann.com, April 2020

Near-Retirement Target-Date Investors Show Signs of Stress

Target-date fund investors have a reputation for shrugging off the short-term stock market volatility, but as the coronavirus-driven sell-off accelerated in March, near-retirees saw an unusual amount of selling activity. Investors within 15 years of retirement pulled more than $9 billion in March.

Source: Morningstar.com, April 2020

Judge Moves Forward Suit Over Walgreen Plan TDF Mismanagement

In a concise order, U.S. District Judge Charles Ronald Norgle of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois has declined to dismiss a lawsuit alleging fiduciaries of the Walgreen Profit-Sharing Retirement Plan breached their fiduciary duties by selecting and retaining poorly performing target-date funds for the plan. The judge rejected the defendants' argument that the complaint cannot be based solely on the funds' underperformance but must contain more specific allegations.

Source: Plansponsor.com, March 2020

Market Plunge Tests Performance of Target-Date Funds

If the recent correction is any indication, many of the target-date funds for people close to retirement might be less risky than such products were in 2008. On average, target-date funds with a 2020 vintage had negative returns of 4.1% between Feb. 24 and Feb. 28, according to data from Morningstar Direct. Meanwhile, funds with target years of 2030 had negative returns of 6.3%, and those dated to 2050 returned -9.2%. During that time the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped by 12%.

Source: Investmentnews.com (registration may be required), March 2020

Vanguard Cements Its Hold on the Target-Date Marketplace

The trend toward lower costs in retirement plans has benefited products across the industry, but Vanguard gobbled up even more of the target-date fund market last year and is nearing $1 trillion managed in those products, according to a report from Sway Research.

Source: Investmentnews.com (registration may be required), March 2020

Choosing Target-Date Funds: A Suitability Assessment

The choice of a target-date fund should be influenced by a range of participant characteristics and behaviors, as well as plan sponsors' objectives for the plan and their investment philosophies. Plan sponsors and their advisors/consultants should think carefully about the list of considerations provided here and document the decision-making process leading to their TDF choices.

Source: Jpmorgan.com, February 2020

Target-Date Funds and Portfolio Choice in 401k Plans

Target-date funds in corporate retirement plans grew from $5B in 2000 to $734B in 2018, partly because federal regulation sanctioned these as default investments in automatic enrollment plans. This paper shows that adopters delegated pension investment decisions to fund managers selected by plan sponsors. Including these funds in retirement saving menus raised equity shares, boosted bond exposures, curtailed cash/company stock holdings, and reduced idiosyncratic risk. The adoption of low-cost target date funds may enhance retirement wealth by as much as 50 percent over a 30-year horizon.

Source: Upenn.edu, January 2020

Target-Date Funds: Blend Is the Trend

Over a third of defined contribution plan sponsors offer both active and passive funds on their core menus, representing 52% of total DC core menu assets. Yet, target-date funds that blend the two have historically garnered limited attention, not due to lack of interest, but because of limited product offerings. However, that is changing.

Source: Pimco.com, January 2020

Participants Invested in TDFs Contribute Less to Retirement Accounts

Retirement plan participants who invest in target-date funds contribute less to their plans than participants who don't use them, an analysis from Alight Solutions finds. This surprising actions from retirement plan TDF investors offer lessons for plan sponsors and indicate a need for more innovation in TDF design.

Source: Plansponsor.com, October 2019

Five Lessons Packaged Target-Date Solutions Can Learn From Customization

Selecting a target-date solution is a fiduciary act, and plan sponsors must work through the distinctions between custom and packaged approaches in order to decide which is the better fit for participants in their own plans. However, the choice isn't necessarily black and white. Here are five principles that can raise the bar for packaged target-date solutions.

Source: Alliancebernstein.com, October 2019

A Prudent Approach to Evaluating Target-Date Funds

Newport Group's Fiduciary Consulting practice has developed a robust methodology for evaluating and monitoring target-date funds. It is designed to be a prudent process that lives up to the rigorous demands of ERISA. This paper describes the details behind our evaluation and monitoring process, and provides an understanding of why such specialized due diligence is essential for target date strategies.

Source: Newportgroup.com, September 2019

Target-Date Funds Can't Escape Fee Compression

Fee compression in target-date funds persists unabated as assets in target-date funds continue to grow at a rapid clip and remain concentrated in a handful of asset managers. Increased fee sensitivity compels target-date asset managers and retirement plan consultants to consider new options for product development.

Source: Cerulli.com, September 2019

Why 401k Target-Date Funds Are "Struggling"

Target-date funds may be the go-to allocation for most 401k sponsors and participants, but there's one area they can't seem to figure out—fee compression. It's an ongoing, and increasing, problem fueled by a concentration of assets in a handful of managers and a rapid rise in inflows.

Source: 401kspecialistmag.com, September 2019

Target-Date Funds May Not Play Well With Others in Defined-Contribution Plans

Target-date funds are designed to simplify investing for participants in defined-contribution plans, especially in plans that use them as the default investment. However, participants sometimes combine target-date funds with other investment-plan options, thus becoming what's known as mixed target-date fund investors. While combining target-date funds with other investments may not seem problematic at first glance, it can diminish -- or even eliminate -- the target-date fund's potential benefit.

Source: Morningstar.com, September 2019

Another TDF Targeted With Fiduciary Suit

Another set of plaintiffs have filed suit about the target-date fund choices on their former employer's investment menu. The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, was brought by Becky Kirk, Perry Ayoob and Dawn Karzenoski on behalf of the CHS/Community Health Systems, Inc. Retirement Savings Plan, which, as of Dec. 31, 2017, had $3.2 billion in assets and about 112,700 active participants.

Source: Napa-net.org, August 2019

ERISA Complaint Questions Alternatives Use in Custom TDF

As it awaits the results of a Supreme Court appeal on another case scrutinizing its investment decisions, Intel Corporation now faces an additional lawsuit questioning the fees and performance of custom target-date funds offered to its defined contribution retirement plan participants.

Source: Planadviser.com, August 2019

Walgreen Sued for Keeping Underperforming TDFs in 401k

A group of current and former participants in the Walgreen Profit-Sharing Retirement Plan, individually and as representatives of a class of participants and beneficiaries of the plan, have filed a lawsuit on behalf of the plan for breach of fiduciary duties under ERISA. Despite a market "teeming with better-performing alternatives," the plaintiffs say, Walgreen selected the Northern Trust Funds, which already had a history of poor performance.

Source: Planadviser.com, August 2019

Walgreens Hit With $300 Million 401k Lawsuit Over Target-Date Funds

Walgreen Co. has been hit with a lawsuit alleging its "imprudent" decision to keep certain target-date funds in its 401k plan caused employees to lose $300 million in cumulative retirement savings. Plaintiffs claim the Northern Trust funds led to a "swift and devastating blow" to participants' retirement savings.

Source: Investmentnews.com (registration may be required), August 2019

Are Your Target-Date Funds a Lawsuit Waiting to Happen?

Target-date funds may be the ticking time bomb of ERISA litigation. If fiduciaries have any doubt that these funds are in the crosshairs, they should take a look at the website of litigation firm Cohen Milstein, which has a whole section titled "Investigation of Target-Date Fund Investments." Cohen Milstein says it is looking at four factors.

Source: Cohenbuckmann.com, August 2019

CIT Target-Date Assets Surging as Mutual Funds Hit by Outflows

Though some target-date managers are seeing net outflows from their mutual fund-based products, they are counting on their collective investment trust-based target-date businesses to pick up the slack. The target-date managers are capitalizing on growing interest among plan sponsors for CITs, which boast lower costs, greater flexibility and fewer regulatory/administrative requirements.

Source: Pionline.com, August 2019

How Target-Date Defaults Affect Equity Allocation Exposure

The economic consequence of different defaults in defined contribution plans is significant, according to a new report by the TIAA Institute. TIAA finds that participants who joined plans post target-date defaults tend to have a greater percentage allocation to equity. And because so many allocate to the same type of fund, there is less cross-sectional variation in equity percentage for this group, according to the report. By contrast, those who joined under a money market default tended to customize their portfolios and there is a substantial cross-sectional variation in the equity percentage of their allocations.

Source: Napa-net.org, June 2019

The Effect of Default Target-Date Funds on Retirement Savings Allocations

Defined contribution retirement plans are the primary retirement savings vehicle for most American workers, and many of these plans now use target-date funds as their default investments. Previously, money market funds were the most common default. Retirement plans today also tend to offer more investment options than were available in the past. This study examines how these changes have affected plan participants' contribution allocations and equity exposure, based on a 2012 cross section of more than 600,000 TIAA participants.

Source: Tiaainstitute.org, June 2019

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