A patent-pending Target Date Fund (TDF) analysis platform designed to modernize how plan sponsors, advisors, and retirement service providers evaluate both traditional and income-enabled TDFs was introduced today by Nestimate.
“TDF IQ shifts the conversation toward retirement income adequacy and helps decision-makers understand whether a TDF truly supports better outcomes for their participants.”
Nestimate’s Kelby Meyers
Called “TDF IQ,” the tool leverages participant alignment data and outcome-based scoring to help fiduciaries make more informed, defensible decisions regarding TDF selection and monitoring.
Kelby Meyers, CEO of Lincoln, Neb.-based Nestimate, said in a press release that TDF IQ introduces several industry-first capabilities, including the ability to compare TDFs with and without embedded income features and assess how each fund’s design aligns with a plan’s actual participant demographics. At the core of the platform is Nestimate’s proprietary Retirement Income Score, a quantitative measure that evaluates the probability of participants achieving sustainable retirement income.
“As income-focused defaults and SECURE 1.0 innovations continue reshaping the defined contribution landscape, fiduciaries need tools that go beyond historical returns and basic glidepath comparisons,” Meyers said. “TDF IQ shifts the conversation toward retirement income adequacy and helps decision-makers understand whether a TDF truly supports better outcomes for their participants.”
The platform is designed to support a more robust, documented fiduciary process by integrating demographic insights, glidepath design analytics, and outcome-based scoring into a single, repeatable framework. This enables advisors and plan sponsors to evaluate the appropriateness of a TDF based not only on investment characteristics but also on the likelihood that the fund will support long-term retirement readiness.
“Traditional TDF evaluation hasn’t kept pace with the industry’s shift toward income,” added Josh Anderson, COO of Nestimate. “With TDF IQ, fiduciaries can clearly see how a fund’s design interacts with real-world participant behavior, savings patterns, and retirement income needs.”
Key capabilities of TDF IQ include:
• Side-by-side comparison of traditional vs. income-enabled TDFs
• Participant alignment scoring based on demographic and behavioral data
• Integration of the Retirement Income Score for outcome-based evaluation
• Comprehensive fiduciary documentation to support prudent, repeatable decisionmaking
• Glidepath and philosophy analysis across major TDF providers
TDF IQ is now available to retirement plan advisors, consultants, plan sponsors, recordkeepers, and aggregators. For additional information or to request a demo, visit http://tdfiq.com/.
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