Guaranteed Income Features in Target Dates Exceed $100B
U.S. mutual fund and collective investment trust (CIT) target date series assets increased 10% over the first six months of 2025 to reach $4.37 trillion, reports new findings today from Sway research.
The findings unveiled an additional $328 billion in assets in custom target date strategies, furthering the total to $4.7 trillion on June 30, 2025.
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Vanguard’s target date series grew $121 billion in the first half of the year, with the firm ultimately reaching $1.6 trillion in target date assets under management (AUM). Meanwhile, Fidelity finished with $623 billion of assets in its target date solutions, excluding assets in 529 plans.
Sway’s research speculates that an increase of guaranteed income features in target date investments could have helped produce additional assets. Assets in these products hit $103 billion by June 30, 2025—a 25% increase from $83 billion at year-end 2024. Further, Sway currently tracks 16 target date products that include embedded income features.
A surge in guaranteed lifetime income products among some of the industry’s largest asset managers have fueled the growth, research finds. TIAA’s RetirePlus model portfolio solutions boosted to $60 billion at mid-year 2025, up from $50 billion at the end of 2024.
BlackRock’s LifePath Paycheck series also saw considerable surges, hitting $24 billion by June compared to $16 billion in 2024.
The research predicts a rise in co-manufacturing relationships between recordkeepers, insurers, trust companies and asset managers to power product development and asset gathering, including in collective investment trusts (CITs). As of mid-year 2025, 46 of 156 target date series with $86 billion in AUM were developed through a co-manufacturing arrangement. Forty-three out of 46 of these funds were CIT-based.
CITs saw continued growth likely incited by its lower costs and a rise in co-manufacturing relationships, with these products reaching 53% of target date assets and 47% of mutual fund series by June. All six target date series introduced in 2025 were also CIT-based.
Assets in CIT-based target dates have grown 24% annually since the end of 2022, compared to 14% for mutual fund-based target date solutions.
As access to alternative investments expands to retirement plan savers, Sway predicts a shift in the target date market. “Retirement income, co-manufacturing, and [coming soon] access to alternatives, such as private market investments, are reshaping the Target Date market as innovation meets demand. This is fueling opportunities for new entrants and smaller players to gain a foothold in this roughly $5 trillion market,” said Sway Founder and Principal Chris J. Brown.
Sway’s study is based on a database of mutual fund and CIT target-date portfolio and asset data, which included 156 target-date solutions with assets as of June 30, 2025, spread across more than 6,000 mutual fund share classes and CITs. Sway uses this data to provide insights on the nearly five trillion target-date market.
Amanda Umpierrez is the Managing Editor of 401(k) Specialist magazine. She is a financial services reporter with nearly a decade of experience and a passion for telling stories and reporting news. She is originally from Queens, New York, but now resides in Denver, Colorado.
