3 Great Target-Date Funds for 2024

Megan Pacholok: If you’re saving for retirement and don’t know where to start, maybe you feel overwhelmed by the investment options or you would rather not dedicate too much time consistently managing your portfolio, well then target-date funds might be a great option for you.

Target-date funds are an all-in-one solution for saving for retirement. An investor selects a fund that most closely matches their target retirement year and lets the portfolio managers do the rest. Today, I’ll highlight some of our highest-conviction options and walk through three series that earn a Medalist Rating of Gold.

3 Great Target-Date Funds for 2024

Here are the 2050 vintages from each target-date series.

1. T. Rowe Price Retirement TRJLX
2. BlackRock LifePath Index LIPKX
3. Pimco RealPath Blend PPQZX

Let’s start with T. Rowe Price Retirement. This is a great series for saving for retirement. Investors have a larger allocation to equity across the glide path and through retirement compared to peers. This helps mitigate against longevity risk but can lead to a bumpier ride during drawdowns. An experienced trio manages this series and is armed with the robust resources and research from the broader multi-asset organization. They make deliberate and forward-thinking modifications to the series, keeping it a step ahead.

Next, let’s talk about BlackRock LifePath Index. It’s an innovative and research-backed series, and it benefits from a team consistently pushing the rule book to create industry-leading solutions for retirement savers. The series’ equity allocation starts at 99% and decreases until it hits 40% at retirement. It’s a low-cost option due to its underlying index funds giving it an advantage. Uniquely across index-based series, they removed a fund tracking the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index and replaced it with five fixed-income funds with more-targeted exposures, allowing them to pinpoint the optimal duration and credit risks across the glide path.

To round out our three series today is Pimco RealPath Blend. This series continues to provide investors with a healthy balance of passive and active underlying funds, allowing them to keep costs down while also including active management where it can provide an edge. The series includes passive Vanguard funds for its equity exposure and features in-house active bond funds. An experienced manager backed by the firm’s vigorous macroeconomic research steers this series, and we have conviction in its long-term potential for retirement savers.

Watch 3 Great Target-Date Funds for an IRA in 2024 for more from Megan Pacholok.