LifePath is designed for investors who would prefer not to manage their own retirement plan investment portfolio. Investment professionals focus on managing the risk in the LifePath target date funds, helping to free up your time to focus on the other important things in life. 

When considering a LifePath fund, participants can identify an approximate target date for when they may want to retire. Let’s say a participant wants to retire when he/she is 65, and the participant turns 65 in 2039. That means the participant could pick the LifePath 2040 fund—the portfolio closest to the ‘target year.’  

To help participants find the right fund for them, the LifePath Selector Tool may be helpful. 

A participant can choose the LifePath fund that is closest to his/her target year, such as LifePath 2025 if the participant is looking to retire in 2023. To help you select the fund that most closely aligns with your goals, check out the LifePath Selector Tool.

LifePath is designed and constructed to manage all the money in a participant’s retirement savings plan. However, participants can choose to invest all or a portion of their funds in other MERS investment options if they wish. 

LifePath invests in several different asset classes, so participants don’t have to mix and match them on their own. LifePath funds are invested mainly in global and U.S.-based stocks early on, shifting to more conservative investments, such as bonds, as retirement approaches—keeping the fund diversified the entire time.  

When a LifePath fund reaches its target year, the assets in the funds will automatically move into LifePath Retirement Fund, which is designed to provide the potential for income and moderate long-term growth for investors during their retirement years. 

As of June 30, 2022, LifePath may include the following asset classes: 

• U.S. Mid/Large-cap Stocks 
• U.S. Small-cap Stocks 
• International Stocks 
• Global Real Estate 
• U.S. Inflation-linked Bonds 
• Commodities 
• Intermediate Government Bond 
• Long Government Bond 
• Intermediate Credit 
• Long Credit 
• Securitized 

These holdings may change over time. 

BlackRock is the investment firm offering LifePath and BlackRock portfolio managers manage the funds. BlackRock pioneered target date funds in 1993 with the launch of LifePath Funds. BlackRock is dedicated to offering quality investment solutions to help investors achieve their retirement goals. As of June 30, 2022, the firm manages U.S. $8.48 trillion in assets. 

Rebalancing is the process of realigning the percentage of assets invested in each investment of a fund. As each investment within a fund can grow at different rates, at certain points in time, investments are “reset” to their original allocation. 

The LifePath funds’ asset and risk allocation is monitored on a daily basis and the funds are typically rebalanced at the end of the month. 

After May 1, 2023, the LifePath fund sheets by year will be available for participants to view from the “Fund” tab button at the top of this page, or after logging into myMERS, selecting your plan, View Plan Summary, then to the Investment Performance Tab. Note that any historical returns are prior to MERS including these funds on its investment menu (before May 1, 2023), provided by BlackRock and are for informational purposes only and do not include MERS Total Annual Operating Expenses.

No, assets are not expected to be out of the market at any time.  

During the quiet period, no investment allocation changes are allowed.  

Participants who submit requests for distributions or rollovers during the quiet period (April 28^th, 29^th, 30^th or May 1st) may experience a slight delay in normal processing. This also includes anyone with a regularly scheduled installment payment during the quiet period; your payment may be delayed by one day after the quiet period ends.