LifePath - MERS | Municipal Employees' Retirement System of Michigan

retirement strategies - target date funds

“Do it for me”
Each of the LifePath Target Date Funds is a complete, diversified investment program — a one-stop investment strategy based on your expected retirement date.

Is a LifePath fund right for you?

Ask yourself these questions:

Do I have the desire to select my own mix of individual funds?
Am I comfortable deciding how much to invest in each fund?
Do I have the time to keep an eye on my investments and make changes over time as I get closer to retirement?

If you answered “No” to one or more of these questions, LifePath may be the simplest way for you to invest.

Getting Started is Easy

Each fund has a date in its name — we call this the fund’s “target date.”

The target date is the approximate year when you expect to retire and begin withdrawing from your account. Picking the right target date is just a matter of some quick addition. Simply take the year you were born, then add your expected retirement age? that’s the year you expect to retire. Select the LifePath fund closest to that date.

For example: If you were born in 1970 and expect to retire at age 65, you would choose the “2035 LifePath” (1970 + 65 = 2035).

Diversification is built right in

You know the old saying – “Avoid putting all your eggs into one basket”. It’s the same thing with investments – diversification is key.

That’s why each of the LifePath funds includes a diversified blend of investments, combining many separate stock, diversifier and bond funds. By spreading your money across these different investment types, LifePath funds give you access to a broad range of opportunities and help manage the portfolio’s overall risk.

Your investment changes with you

By gradually shifting your mix away from stocks and toward bonds over time, the fund’s management team automatically adjusts your portfolio mix as you move toward—and through—retirement.

Investments Become More Conservative over Time

Investments in LifePath are not guaranteed against loss of principal: at any time, your account value can be more or less than the original amount contributed – including at the time of the fund’s target date. Also, investing in LifePath does not guarantee sufficient income in retirement.