Last month, our experts picked a number
of target date funds as a one - stop shop of sorts to cover your exposure to the entire market.
Participants will learn how to select the best performing mutual funds, when to add bonds to the portfolio, and how to double the returns
of target date funds with one simple step.
At my workplace the investment provider has now started offering a
handful of target date funds — catering to employees who don't want the time and effort that comes with handling your investments.
Even if you like the
premise of target date funds, you should still review the fund your contributions are being allocated to to make sure it is appropriate for your financial goals.
The
idea of target date funds caters to the general ideal that one should be more aggressive in their investment choices while they are young.
Good question, and it's one that each person our couple should answer for themselves based on an assessment of the pros and
cons of target date funds.
The consistency has allowed investors to capture
more of target date funds» total returns over the span that Morningstar studied, says Jeffrey Ptak, global director of manager research.
The all - plan average for target date funds was 56 basis points — the smallest plans averaged 77 basis points for managed funds, while participants in mega plans paid an average of 48 basis points for
shares of target date funds.
Now that you are older you may find it prudent to either move a portion of your account to the L Income, G Fund, or to one
of the target date funds if retirement is fast approaching to preserve your nest egg.
In the
case of a target date fund, if you're saving for retirement, consider selecting a fund with a retirement date closest to your planned retirement age (somewhere around age 65 — 67 for most people).
The vast
majority of target date funds seem to passively accept this risk by holding the vast majority of their assets in simple stock - bond combination.
Despite efforts to educate participants on the
benefits of target date funds (TDFs), many lack even the most basic knowledge of what target date funds are and how they work.
With that said, it should be noted than an inherent
limitation of target date funds is that they essentially assume that all people with the same time horizon have identical investment objectives, but this may not be the case.
One of my clients actually allows employees to choose their target date funds, and they found that a number of people were choosing three
of these target date funds because they weren't sure if they were going to retire at age 55, 60 or 65.
Groom Law Group reviews how Target Date Compass is designed to assist plan fiduciaries with meeting the increasing
challenges of target date fund due diligence.
There is an appealing simplicity in the
concept of target date funds, but making the right choice among the many offerings and understanding how the funds work is not quite as simple as it appears at first glance.
The consistency has allowed investors to capture
more of target date funds» total returns over the span that Morningstar studied, says Jeffrey Ptak, global director of manager research.
Participants (generally government employees and military) have access to very low cost index fund options and a
handful of target date funds (L Funds) that incorporate different combinations of the individual index fund options depending on what stage you're at in your retirement savings journey.
There are many out there who are not
fans of Target Date Funds, and one reason is that they carry relatively high expense ratios.
Be careful of the high fees that
some of the target date funds charge.