Target-date funds as of · 281
In a household notebook, Target-date funds is judged from . The line is ““Compounding is free money”” and the figure in the sum is 1. A blinking gain on a screen is not the reason. Families and firms that share a vocabulary for time and rate make fewer contradictory bets.
One ticker that ages with you — glide paths, fees and whether defaults help or hide costs. Target-date funds package a declining equity glide path into a single default — convenient behaviour engineering that still needs fee and suitability checks. Target-date funds sits in the vehicles family of this atlas: mechanisms first, products second, hype never.
Use the calculator for scenarios, then return to the section pages when you want the vocabulary behind the curve. What is target-date funds in one sentence? No. Tool-Lifes pages are educational atlases. Decisions need your goals, constraints and, when appropriate, a licensed adviser.
Do I need a high return for compounding to matter? Higher net rates help, but time and contributions often dominate — especially early. Costs and behaviour can erase a “good” rate. Treat outputs as scenario sketches. Vary contribution, rate, fees and inflation to see which lever moves your goal date.
For Target-date funds in , the figure that stays is 1, named ““Compounding is free money”.” Sparkle is not a figure.1
Figures to keep
- Year of the rule
- 1
- Figure in the sum
- 1
- Item
- Target-date funds
- Reason kept
- “Compounding is free money”