401k Market Minute: Target Dates Tank and Billionaire Thiel Attacks ESG

Controversial billionaire Peter Thiel did what he does best—make more controversy—at a Bitcoin conference in Miami last week.

Thiel took aim specifically at ESG, comparing it, and its supporters to the Chinese Communist Party, calling ESG a hate factory for naming enemies, and referring to Bitcoin critic Warren Buffett as the “the sociopathic grandpa from Omaha.”

PayPal founder Thiel is nothing if not direct.

Ron Surz is back with a piece decrying risk in target-date funds, noting all vintages of target-date funds lost about 5% in the first quarter of 2022. That is, funds for those near retirement lost as much as funds for those 20 or 40 years away from retirement.

That’s not supposed to happen, he says and blames bonds for negatively impacting glidepaths.

Finally, check out the always entertaining and insightful Sheri Fitts in this week’s 401(k) Specialist Podcast as she describes an early-mover marketing opportunity for ambitious advisors.

That’s just some of what’s happening this week.

Exit mobile version