T. Rowe Price Retirement Series

T. Rowe Price Retirement’s experienced team, ample resources, and drive for enhancements support a Morningstar Analyst Rating of Gold for its cheapest share class and its collective investment trusts. The retail share class has been downgraded to Silver from Gold, and the advisor share class has been downgraded to Bronze from Silver owing to increasing fee pressures within a competitive peer group. The most-expensive share class continues to earn a Bronze rating.

T. Rowe Price’s multi-asset organization distinguishes itself through its resources, stability, and focused research efforts. The trio of portfolio managers at the helm collaborates with teams across the firm and lean on the broader organization to support this series. Wyatt Lee has served as the lead manager since January 2021, but he has made critical contributions here for much longer. He is supported by Kim DeDominicis and Andrew Jacobs van Merlen, both T. Rowe Price veterans. Their long-term perspective and understanding of the evolving risks in saving for retirement inspires confidence in the strategy’s research process.

This best-in-class offering’s high equity allocation across the glide path distinguishes it from peers. The series’ strategic equity allocation starts at 98%, 7 percentage points above its peers. It remains elevated across the entire glide path; its largest gap is 10 years from retirement when its equity allocation is 77%, 14 percentage points above peers. The team’s focus on mitigating against the risk of investors outliving their savings in retirement supports its heightened equity exposure. But investors should be aware this approach can lead to larger losses as investors approach their retirement date if stocks tumble.

That risk has been greater recently because the series’ core fixed-income holding, T. Rowe Price New Income TRVZX, hasn’t held up well during stock drawdowns. Its relative underperformance in 2020′s first quarter and 2022 blemishes this series’ short-term performance. Long-term performance has been more inspiring. The 11 funds with 10-year track records through December 2022 each topped their respective S&P Target-Date Index and Morningstar Category average.

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