Is any retirement vehicle safe? I keep looking, but all I see are returns that are the financial equivalent of auto crash tests where the dummy’s body snaps all around then slumps over the wheel. Know what I mean?
Although target-date funds were supposed be set it and forgettable savings vehicles for employee-investors — pick your dream retirement date and let the fund do the rest — a recent Wall Street Journal report cites data from Morningstar that show that some 2010 funds have lost as much as 20%. Among other funds, Morningstar examined 275 of them, and found 50 posted more than 38.5% drops in 2008, including the Oppenheimer 2010 fund, that lost 41.3%.
