Target-Date Funds in 401(k) Retirement Plans

This research is part of the NBER programs on Aging and Labor Studies and the Household Finance Working Group. It was undertaken pursuant to a grant from the US Social Security Administration (SSA) to the Michigan Retirement Research Center (MRRC). This research support is gratefully acknowledged along with that of the Pension Research Council at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and Vanguard. The authors thank Yong Yu for exceptional research assistance and acknowledge Vanguard's efforts in the provision of recordkeeping data under restricted access conditions. The authors also thank John Ameriks and Jean Young for helpful comments. All findings, interpretations, and conclusions of this paper represent the views of the authors and not those of the Wharton School or the Pension Research Council, the SSA, any agency of the Federal Government, Vanguard, the MRRC, or any other institution with which the authors are affiliated. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research.