Key Takeaways
- • Vanguard plans to launch a new target-date series, Target Retirement Growth Trusts, later in 2026 with a more pronounced equity allocation across the glidepath for younger investors, near retirees and retirees.
- • At age 25, the new series holds 95% equity versus 90% in Vanguard's Target Retirement Funds and Trusts; at age 65 it holds 60% versus 50%; and at age 72 it holds 50% versus 30%.
- • The series uses collective investment trusts and is index-based, and is intended for plans whose participants may support a higher equity allocation, according to Vanguard's October 21 news release.
- • Vanguard, the target-date industry leader with $1.35 trillion in DC assets under management in 2025 per Pensions & Investments, follows BlackRock's March 2026 move to increase equity exposure in its LifePath funds.
- • Morningstar's March 2026 report found median equity glidepaths in 2025 were higher than in 2015 across vintages, citing persistently low interest rates, growth potential of equities and rising life expectancy.
Summary
Vanguard Group plans to offer a new target-date series later this year with a more aggressive equity glidepath, extending higher equity exposure not only to younger investors but also to near-retirees and retirees. The move continues an industrywide trend toward greater risk-taking in defined contribution target-date strategies, according to Pensions & Investments.
The new series, Target Retirement Growth Trusts, uses collective investment trusts and is more aggressive than Vanguard's existing Target Retirement Funds and Trusts. For a 25-year-old investor, the equity component is 95% versus 90% in the existing series. By age 65 it is 60% versus 50%, and at age 72 the gap widens to 50% versus 30%. The portfolio is index-based and combines U.S. and international public equities with U.S. and international public investment-grade bonds and U.S. short-term Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities. In an October 21 news release, Lauren Valente, managing director of Vanguard Workplace Solutions, said the series reflects the firm's commitment to meeting the increasingly diverse needs of retirement savers. The release states the series is intended for plans whose participants' needs, risk tolerance or retirement objectives may support a higher equity allocation.
Vanguard was the target-date industry leader among DC money managers with $1.35 trillion in assets under management in 2025, according to Pensions & Investments. The initiative follows BlackRock's March 2026 announcement that it would increase equity exposure in its LifePath funds, including iShares LifePath ETFs, LifePath index mutual funds, LifePath dynamic mutual funds and institutional LifePath vehicles such as LifePath Paycheck. BlackRock's changes add up to about 6 percentage points of equity exposure beginning 30 years before retirement, with the post-retirement allocation of 40% stocks and 60% fixed income unchanged. BlackRock had $551.7 billion in target-date fund assets under management last year.
A March 2026 Morningstar report found that median equity glidepaths in 2025 were higher than in 2015 across vintages from 45 years before retirement through vintages more than five years past the traditional retirement age of 65. The report attributed the shift to structural and market factors, including persistently low interest rates through the 2010s and early 2020s that reduced bond return prospects, the greater long-term growth potential of equities, and rising U.S. life expectancy that extends retirements and increases the risk of outliving savings.
The new series, Target Retirement Growth Trusts, uses collective investment trusts and is more aggressive than Vanguard's existing Target Retirement Funds and Trusts. For a 25-year-old investor, the equity component is 95% versus 90% in the existing series. By age 65 it is 60% versus 50%, and at age 72 the gap widens to 50% versus 30%. The portfolio is index-based and combines U.S. and international public equities with U.S. and international public investment-grade bonds and U.S. short-term Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities. In an October 21 news release, Lauren Valente, managing director of Vanguard Workplace Solutions, said the series reflects the firm's commitment to meeting the increasingly diverse needs of retirement savers. The release states the series is intended for plans whose participants' needs, risk tolerance or retirement objectives may support a higher equity allocation.
Vanguard was the target-date industry leader among DC money managers with $1.35 trillion in assets under management in 2025, according to Pensions & Investments. The initiative follows BlackRock's March 2026 announcement that it would increase equity exposure in its LifePath funds, including iShares LifePath ETFs, LifePath index mutual funds, LifePath dynamic mutual funds and institutional LifePath vehicles such as LifePath Paycheck. BlackRock's changes add up to about 6 percentage points of equity exposure beginning 30 years before retirement, with the post-retirement allocation of 40% stocks and 60% fixed income unchanged. BlackRock had $551.7 billion in target-date fund assets under management last year.
A March 2026 Morningstar report found that median equity glidepaths in 2025 were higher than in 2015 across vintages from 45 years before retirement through vintages more than five years past the traditional retirement age of 65. The report attributed the shift to structural and market factors, including persistently low interest rates through the 2010s and early 2020s that reduced bond return prospects, the greater long-term growth potential of equities, and rising U.S. life expectancy that extends retirements and increases the risk of outliving savings.
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