Research, analysis, and thoughts on retirement investments & the future of personalization
In our Class on Asset Classes post, we laid the framework for the varying exposures that Target Date Funds (TDFS) can hold as underlying investments. Using that as a basis, we can compare the various TDF series and how they differ on various metrics. In this post, we’ll start by looking at how TDFs allocate to U.S. vs. International (Non-U.S.) exposure.
Target Date Fund issuers have the right to change their glide path whenever they see fit. It makes the historical and ongoing analysis of the TDF a bit trickier. Sometimes the changes can be rather large and sometimes just nuanced changes. During the 4Q19 quarter we saw a handful of changes, most of which fall in the nuanced camp.
As we march along into 2020, we’ll start reviewing what occurred in the TDF market in the last quarter on 2019. The first aspect we’ll look at is returns.
While we believe individual TDF performance should not be analyzed on a quarter-by-quarter basis, regular examination of the industry as a whole can reveal general themes and interesting nuances.
The advent of the Target Date fund was back in early 1994 (as detailed in an earlier post). As TDFs grew in popularity and more plans/advisors/participants starting using them, a question arose as to how properly measure a TDF's performance.