A look at 'to' vs. 'through' in target-date funds

Target-date mutual funds are designed to help investors achieve long-term savings goals while leaving portfolio adjustments to the pros. The mix of investments in the funds becomes more conservative as the target retirement year in the fund's name approaches. But investors in or near retirement should understand that these funds take widely varying approaches beginning at the target year. Some continue to change the mix of investments after their target year is reached. In some cases, the asset allocation continues to shift as long as 30 years after the target year. These are known as 'through' funds, because they're designed to be held throughout retirement. Other target-date funds are called 'to' funds because they shift asset allocation leading up to the target date, but don't change it after that point. Morningstar Inc. recently examined fund company disclosures about dozens of target-date fund glide paths -- the pattern by which fund companies adjust their mix of investments over time-- and divided them into "through" and "to" groups. Of the 41 target-date fund families that Morningstar examined, 22 were in the "through" group, and 19 in the "to" group. Below are the "through" fund families? listed in alphabetical order, followed by the "to" funds: "THROUGH" FUNDS: AllianceBernstein Retirement Strategies Fidelity Advisor Freedom Fidelity Freedom Goldman Sachs Retirement Strategies Guidestone Funds MyDestination Harbor Target Retirement John Hancock Lifecycle Legg Mason Partners Target Retirement MainStay Retirement Manning & Napier Target MassMutual Destination Retirement Maxim Lifetime Nationwide Target Destination Oppenheimer LifeCycle Principal LifeTime RiverSource Retirement Plus Schwab Target T. Rowe Price Retirement TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Vanguard Target Retirement Vantagepoint Milestone Wells Fargo Advantage DJ Target Date ---------- "TO" FUNDS: Allianz Global Investors Solutions American Century LIVESTRONG American Funds Target Date Retirement BlackRock LifePath BlackRock Lifecycle Prepared DWS LifeCompass Franklin Templeton Retirement Hartford Target Retirement ING Index Solution ING Solution Invesco Balanced-Risk Retirement JPMorgan SmartRetirement MFS Lifetime American Independence NestEgg Dow Jones PIMCO RealRetirement Putnam RetirementReady Russell LifePoints Target Date State Farm Lifepath USAA Target Retirement ---------- Note: Based on fund disclosures as of Dec. 31 Published: Mon, Jun 6, 2011