Upping the Ante on TDF Customization

401k, retirement, target date funds, Lincoln Financial

Different strokes for different folks.

Customization is key in 2018. Americans want—and even expect—products to be tailored to their specific needs.

The financial industry has taken notice and responded in countless ways—target date funds (TDF) being one.

Intended to improve investor outcomes by tailoring asset-allocations to participants’ anticipated retirement date, TDFs have gone over swimmingly since they were introduced in the ‘90s.

And with its newest series of target date portfolios, Lincoln Financial Group aims to take personalization one step further.

In an announcement today, the Pennsylvania-based firm’s Retirement Plan Services arm unveiled a series of highly customizable target date products for 401k plans and similar retirement accounts.

Dubbed YourPath, the new portfolios are intended to provide an even “more personalized investment approach based upon financial circumstances and risk tolerance.”

The portfolios will feature investments offered by American Funds, American Century Investments, BlackRock and State Street Global Advisors and will be managed along multiple risk-based paths in order to better “help participants achieve their retirement goals by using flexible and tailored strategies to reduce volatility.”

With YourPath, participants can choose an active, passive or hybrid portfolio investment strategy with a stable value asset class to help mitigate the ups and downs of the market.

Morningstar will provide fiduciary support, in addition to glide path development, portfolio construction and ongoing management for each of the portfolio strategies.

“Unlike standard target date funds driven by retirement age, Lincoln Financial’s YourPath portfolios are a more customized solution,” Ralph Ferraro, senior vice president, head of Product for the company’s Retirement Plan Services business, said in a statement.

“Our solution is tailored to meet plan participants’ needs based on where they are in the retirement cycle and their particular risk profile. Working with some of the most prestigious investment managers enables us to tap the best investment strategies, which are then joined with the strength of Lincoln’s stable value product,” he added.

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