Inside The Plan

Target Date Funds

Dec 20, 2018

Have you ever wanted an easy button for your 401k investing? Target Date Funds are a one-stop investment option for a 401k participant. Today, we sit down with Andy and Bill Bush to get a better idea of how we can use target date funds to enhance our own retirement portfolio.

Show Notes:

  • :30--- Introduction of today's topic: Target date funds
  • :44-- What is a target date fund?
  • :50-- A target date fund is a one stop shop for your retirement investment needs
  • 1:50-- For this fund, the major deciding characteristic is time.
  • 2:37-- The fund that corresponds with your retirement year contains the right amount of risk for you.
  • 3:50-- When you are almost to your retirement, you do not want as much risk in your portfolio
  • 4:33-- There will always be some exposure to stocks because there is no way to predict how long you will be in retirement
  • 4:57-- Target date funds are an ¨easy button¨ for retirement investments
  • 6:22-- The target date is not a guarantee
  • 7:00-- Over time they typically increase
  • 7:12-- Target date funds are managed over a length of time. They are not actively managed
  • 8:06--Target fund with the same date and different providers are different.

3 Key Points:

  1. Target date fund is a fund that targets your retirement date. It is pre-picked with funds that give you the correct amount of risk for your age group.
  2. The major characteristic that decides which assets are in each fund is time.
  3. Target Date Funds are not a guarantee. The are not actively managed and are meant to be held until retirement.

Tweetable Quotes:

-       “If I didn't know anything about investing and didn't want to select my own funds, I could select the 2035 fund.” –Bill.

-       “Bonds and cash are the most conservative investments whereas stocks are more risky.” –Bill.

-       “Target Date Fund is a way, an easy button to make one selection when enrolling in a plan. ”  –Bill.

-       “Target Date Fund is not a guarantee. ”  –Bill.

 

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