People want it easy. The trouble is, life is hard. Saving for your retirement is the same way. It's harder when you consider everything you don't know. This is the dilemma facing all retirement savers. But it's a challenge rife with opportunity for professionals providing advice to that market. Here's how.
Qualified default investment alternatives include both target date funds and target risk (aka “lifestyle”) funds. While the former has the track record, the latter has something better—the allure of ease.
Target risk funds are defined by their familiar “aggressive,” “moderate,” and “conservative” descriptions. Target date funds are defined by their singular characteristic—their date. This trait plays to the typical retirement saver's need for ease. It's as simple as answering the question “What year will I retire?” and plugging everything into the target date fund with a date closest to that year.
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Christopher Carosa
Chris Carosa has been writing a weekly article and monthly column for BenefitsPRO online and BenefitsPRO Magazine since 2011 and is a nationally recognized award-winning writer, researcher and speaker. He’s written seven books, including From Cradle to Retire: The Child IRA; Hey! What’s My Number? – How to Increase the Odds You Will Retire in Comfort; A Pizza The Action: Everything I Ever Learned About Business I Learned By Working in a Pizza Stand at the Erie County Fair; and the widely acclaimed 401(k) Fiduciary Solutions. Carosa is also Chief Contributing Editor of the authoritative trade journal FiduciaryNews.com and publisher of the Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel, a weekly community newspaper he founded in 1989. Currently serving as President of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and with more than 1,000 articles published in various publications, he appears regularly in the national media. A “parallel” entrepreneur, he actively runs a handful of businesses, including a small boutique investment adviser, providing hands-on experience for his writing. A trained astrophysicist, he also holds an MBA and has been designated a Certified Trust and Financial Advisor. Share your thoughts and story ideas with him through Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/christophercarosa/)and Twitter (https://twitter.com/ChrisCarosa).
