Target date doesn't solve any of these problems except to shift the investments from higher return/higher risk to lower return lower risk as you approach the target date. It helps with the problem that the market crashes right before you retire but in exchange you lose a percent or so over the lifetime of the fund. And while vangard is industry leading WRT to the expense ratio, right there on their page they note that the industry average is almost half a percent just in expenses. Never mind the lower returns.

And these days there really hasn't been anywhere to run since everything is so correlated. People close to retirement in those funds are going to be delaying retirement just like everyone else. -15% YOY with "safe" low risk/return investments really hurts. https://investor.vanguard.com/investment-products/mutual-fun...

The place I was at 15 years ago when I actually had money in a target date fund had a 1.5% expense ratio that was buried in a couple of different parts, fund expense ratio, and a underlying security expense ratio. And then on top of that the place I was at the "plan provider" or whatever they were called was scraping another .20% off of everything. There was a class action lawsuit, and the plan provider eventually lost. But, of the probably tens of thousands I lost vs just having my money in a IRA with vangard I think I got a check for something like $100.

I think what you're asking for is fundamentally against the basic principles of investment markets.

You're asking for the long term returns on any given short term period. That's just not how investment works. You get the best gains by staying in it for a long time. You can't get that nice long-term average without bearing the risk yourself.

Who is going to bear the risk for free?

Remember that stocks are investments in actual companies that take months and years to turn inputs into outputs. If I give Boeing a billion dollars I don't just come pick up my new plane prototype tomorrow.

Imagine giving venture money to a startup company like Slack and then demanding monthly repayment at the S&P 500 long term average from day one. Wouldn't my money be better used funding Slack's expansion rather than going back to my pocket and stunting growth?

That's why you can't get good guaranteed returns, because money has to be put to use transforming inputs to outputs over time.

> People close to retirement in those funds are going to be delaying retirement just like everyone else.

Only if they have a short-term view of their money or their savings rate wasn't high enough in the first place. Don't forget that the fund you linked me had a 16.87% increase in 2020 and a 11.50% increase in 2020. Plus, your target date is 2 years from now.

Your original comment wished for the government to step in and make a fund like this. That already happened in the form of social security and medicare. Both are funded by contributions made during working years, effectively a savings account. If you're wishing for a better rate of return, well, sorry, see my first point. Social Security and Medicare are structured as guaranteed annuities. Being alive means you get them.