Target Date Funds over 55

[Anonymous]

Looking at the Vanguard 2020, 2025, 2030 and 2035 Target funds today.

They all seemed to be unloading stocks last few years so missed a lot of the last 5-10 years of stock gains

Then while selling stocks in 2017-2022 they were loading up on bonds that got clobbered the last two years.

Now as they get close to retirement are selling longer bonds to buy shorter bonds so when bond yields fall won’t have move of a gain on bonds.

A plain old 60/40 stock bond fund would have been safer with better performance the last few years.

Glide path is a highway to hell. Selling losers to buy bigger losers

[Anonymous]

I used to be a believer in increasing bond allocation as you get older. But as I've gotten older, I've become so accustomed to the ups and downs of the stock market that volatility doesn't phase me at all. I'm 50 and my portfolio is 90% stock.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Looking at the Vanguard 2020, 2025, 2030 and 2035 Target funds today.

They all seemed to be unloading stocks last few years so missed a lot of the last 5-10 years of stock gains

Then while selling stocks in 2017-2022 they were loading up on bonds that got clobbered the last two years.

Now as they get close to retirement are selling longer bonds to buy shorter bonds so when bond yields fall won’t have move of a gain on bonds.

A plain old 60/40 stock bond fund would have been safer with better performance the last few years.

Glide path is a highway to hell. Selling losers to buy bigger losers

If the market wasn't as strong, the reverse would have been true. Just a bad time period of analysis. I would look at 30-40 year timeframes to understand what it would look like on average over multiple u-down cycles.