Target-date funds continue to increase in popularity among investors as low-cost retirement vehicles, at the same time the Internet and increased benchmarking have made the retirement industry more transparent than ever. With these trends in mind, employer client expectations of their retirement advisers have raised.
The trend [with target-date funds] is continued growth. Over the last year or two, there has been a continued re-evaluation of target-date philosophy and making sure that plan sponsors have the right target-date funds and that they understand how their target-date fund operates, what the goals of that product are, and making sure that it aligns with their goals as plan sponsors, explains Craig Keim, director of defined contribution investment relationship management, T. Rowe Price. Target-date funds have become the core building block of most investment lineups. Its the QDIA of choice for most plans and is the focal point and the core of their investment lineup, he adds.
