Canadian Target-Date Funds: Trends, Performance, Market Leaders

Canadian target-date assets rose to CAD 159.4 billion at year-end 2025. While BlackRock dominates the concentrated market, new firms are entering the market and rolling out products that marry public indexes with private-market exposure.

See the funds that are leading in market share, and how asset mix, glide path, and performance might shape decisions about the rest of the investment portfolio.

For a deeper dive, download the free 2026 Canadian Target-Date Landscape report.

Workplace plans now hold about 97% of Canadian target-date assets, as ongoing employer and employee contributions provide a steady engine of growth.

A few key trends continue to shape the TDF market:

• The shift from defined-benefit to defined-contribution plans. DC plans make up about 44% of retirement assets, according to Sun Life, up from 40% in 2023. 
• Target-date funds are the default investment option in 81% of Canadian DC plans, according to a recent Sun Life study. Automatic enrollment has been proven to increase enrollment in defined contribution plans.
• Access is dominated by institutional platforms. Group retirement recordkeeper platforms now hold most target-date assets. Recent offerings for retail investors have struggled. For example, the first target-date ETFs launched in 2022 but closed a year later. 

Canadian target-date assets rose to CAD 159.4 billion at year-end 2025.

Target-date funds recorded CAD 9.0 billion in net inflows in 2025. BlackRock and Fidelity gathered CAD 2.6 billion and CAD 2.2 billion, respectively. All managers posted positive net flows, reflecting strong demand for target-date funds.

In comparison, the US target-date market reached $4.8 trillion USD in 2025. Twenty-one new collective investment trust series launched in 2025 alone, as CITs now make up a majority of total target-date assets.

As of early 2026, 14 providers offer 21 target-date series. But only five providers manage 89% of total target-date assets.

BlackRock remains the market leader with just under half of total assets and the largest net inflows in 2025. BlackRock’s iShares ETFs are the most widely used third-party components. The ETFs appear in seven target-date series in addition to the firm’s own LifePath lineup.

Fidelity ranks second with CAD 29 billion (18%), supported by its long tenure in the market. The firm is one of only two providers offering target-date series across both retail and group retirement platforms.

The remaining nine providers together account for 11% of the market. But competition continues to intensify. 

CIBC, the newest entrant, launched its Target Retirement Date series in November 2025. Sun Life plans to introduce an Index Plus version of its existing Granite series in May 2026, which will incorporate private markets exposure with a mostly passive lineup of public funds.

The chart below shows market share of target-date assets by manager (CAD million), December 2025.

Source: Morningstar Direct. Data as of Dec. 31, 2025. Returns of individual segregated funds at each group retirement provider may vary slightly.

The table below shows one-year leaders across Canadian target-date series. Note that performance is shown gross of fees, as plan-level costs vary across group retirement platforms.

While target-date series look similar early on, they diverge near the retirement date. Growth-asset allocations cluster around 97% far from retirement, then spread to a 29-point range in the target year as “to” and “through” designs separate. 

A “to” glide path stops changing asset class allocation at retirement. The portfolio remains static afterward. A “through” glide path adjusts for five or more years after retirement to gradually increase fixed-income allocations and reduce exposure to equity risk. 

A target-date funds' glide path may affect the asset mix of the rest of a client's portfolio to accommodate near-term goals. Tools like the Portfolio Risk Score can show how equity or private-market allocations line up with a client's risk tolerance.

An emerging product innovation in Canadian TDFs, “Index Plus” funds combine passive public market exposure with allocations to private assets. And these funds are gaining momentum. Two of the top five series by 2025 net inflows came from this segment.

Alternatives are becoming more common in target-date series, with an average allocation of 5.1 percentage points and a median of 1.7. Advisors should factor private-market exposure in retirement accounts into recommendations for the rest of the clients’ income investment portfolio.

Over time, the Canadian target-date market has shifted from mostly active to passive underlying funds. Fidelity and Canada Life illustrate this evolution. Both started with all-active series before introducing lineups that blend active and passive funds.

However, some providers remain committed to all-active lineups:

• MFS
• RBC
• TD

For a more comprehensive look at the overall market, download the full report. We cover:

• Target-date launches and closures
• Market share by target-date series
• Comparison of three-, five-, and 10-year TDF performance metrics