February 12, 2025
Target Date Assets Grow 15% in 2024 as Vanguard Reaches $1.5 Trillion
The Introduction of BlackRock LifePath Paycheck Takes Income TDs to New Heights
Assets in mutual fund and collective investment trust (CIT) Target Date series rose 15% in 2024, reaching $3.97 trillion as of year-end. During the year, CITs, which held $2.02 trillion of assets at the outset of 2025, overtook mutual funds as the largest holder of Target Date assets. Mutual fund Target Date series finished the year with $1.95 trillion of assets under management (AUM). Read more
September 10, 2024
One-quarter of Target-Date Series Are the Product of “Co-manufacturing”
Target-Date Assets Top $4 Trillion as CITs Overtake Mutual Funds
Since the start of 2018, more than half (54%) of new Target-Date series were the product of co-manufacturing—a trend that has fueled a surge in the development of these age-tied investment vehicles into which participants in defined contribution (DC) plans are often auto-enrolled via their employer-sponsored retirement plan. Read more
February 12, 2024
Target-Date Assets Spike to a Record High $3.5 Trillion in 2023
Fees Continue to Fall as Performance Rebounds and Assets Swell
Following a brutal 2022 in which assets fell 13%, Target-Date products rebounded in 2023, gaining 22% to end the year with a record $3.47 trillion of assets under management. Although collective trust (CIT)-based Target-Date products were expected to overtake mutual funds in 2023, mutual fund Target-Dates began 2024 holding on to slightly more assets ($1.76 trillion to $1.71 trillion). Read more
October 3, 2023
DCIO Asset Bases and Sales Seeing Significant Gains in 2023
Rising Equity Prices Fuel First Half Asset Growth, While Gross Sales Are Up YOY
DCIO asset bases largely improved in a solid year for stocks (so far), but most remain well shy of year-end 2021 levels. Sway projects DCIO AUM will reach $5.9 trillion by the end of 2023—making back more than half of the assets lost in a difficult 2022, but still down about 8% from the end of 2021. The average manager experienced a 12% rise in DCIO AUM in the first half of 2023 on the strength of solid gross sales, which averaged 58% of full-year 2022 levels. Read more
February 13, 2023
Target-Date Assets Fall 13% in 2022
Collective Trusts to Topple Mutual Funds as Primary Target-Date Vehicle in 2023
Assets in non-custom Target-Date portfolios fell 13% in 2022, to close the year at $2.83 trillion, down from $3.25 trillion at the end of 2021. Few Target-Date providers were spared losses for the year, with most experiencing a double-digit drop in assets. A majority of the series that managed to produce asset gains were CIT-based, as the utilization of lower-cost collective investment trusts (i.e., CITs) in Target-Date construction continues to surge. Read more
October 11, 2022
DCIOs Experience a Reversal of Fortune as AUM Takes a Big Hit in 2022
After a Year of Strong Gains, Average DCIOs Lost 17% of AUM in the Year’s First-Half
Price declines and turbulence in bond and equity markets took a steep toll on defined contribution investment-only (DCIO) assets in the first-half of 2022. The 21 managers to complete Sway Research’s annual survey on trends in assets, sales, investments and distribution experienced an average asset drop of 17% in the first six months of 2022. The bread and butter of most DCIO efforts are equity funds, so the average manager is particularly hard hit when stock prices are falling, while the overall market fares better as assets shift into conservative investments, such as money market and stable value funds. Thus, despite the 17% first-half dip for the average manager, Sway Research is projecting a decline for the overall DCIO market of 14% this year, meaning it will finish the year at $5.3 trillion of assets, down from $6.2 trillion at the end of 2021. Read more
February 9, 2022
Vanguard Sees Target-Date Asset Share Slip in 2021
Competitors Gain Ground Despite Market Leader’s Surge to Nearly $1.2T of T-D AUM
Passive-management giant Vanguard Group continues to dominate Target-Date assets, yet the firm lost a smidgen of asset share in 2021, despite reaching a colossal $1.19 trillion of Target-Date AUM by year end, up from $1.0 trillion at the close of 2020. The firm saw its share of Target-Date assets slip from 36.9% at year-end 2020 to 36.6% in 2021, while its closest competitors gained share. No. 2 in Target-Date AUM, Fidelity Investments saw its Target-Date asset share climb from 14.0% to 14.3%, as its Target-Date assets reached $465 billion. Fidelity’s growth was sparked by its fast-growing Passive Target-Date solutions. Read more
October 10, 2021
DCIO Units Charging Into 2022 With Record AUM and Improved Net Sales
Average Asset Gains of 30% YOY and Positive 1H ‘21 Net Flows for 2/3rds of Managers Put DCIO Sales and Marketing Units on Firmer Ground
Appreciating stock prices and an improved net sales environment are putting DCIO (defined contribution investment-only) sales and marketing units on firm ground heading into 2022. Sway Research’s recent survey of 21 DCIO sales units uncovered an average DCIO AUM rise of 30% per firm over the 12 months leading up to June 30, aided by a gain of 10% in just the first half of 2021. Not all of the rise is the result of increasing stock prices, as two-thirds of the managers in Sway’s annual survey captured positive net sales during the first half of this year—a marked improvement over full-year 2020 when 7 in 10 managers experienced net redemptions from DCIO assets. Read more
February 9, 2021
Vanguard Breaks $1 Trillion in Target-Date AUM
Fees Move Lower as CITs and “Passive” Solutions Gain More Market Share
Assets in non-custom Target-Date solutions reached $2.7 trillion as of year-end 2020. Target-Date assets increased 18% in 2020, with assets in Mutual Fund (MF) series rising 14%, while assets in Collective Investment Trust (CIT) solutions gained 24%, as CIT-based Target-Dates continue to proliferate and gain market share. Sway now tracks just 56 MF-based series compared to 78 CIT-based series. At the end of 2015, Sway tracked 56 of each type in its proprietary Target-Date database. At that moment in time, MF-based Target-Date series held 68% of the assets to 32% for CIT-based solutions. At year-end 2020, the ratio had closed to 58% asset share for MF T-Ds, and 42% for CIT T-Ds. These are just a few of the findings featured in the latest in-depth research report from Sway Research—The State of the Target-Date Market: 2021, Examining Asset Trends Across Providers, Products, Vehicles, Management Styles, and Glide Path Structures. Read more.
October 19, 2020
Target-Date Solutions Driving Sales at “Mega” DCIOs
DCIO Sales and Assets Hold Firm Amid Pandemic as Shift to Virtual Sales Proves Beneficial
There is a significant bifurcation between the biggest players in the DCIO space – Sway's Tier 1A segment, which averaged $268 billion of DCIO AUM at mid-year 2020 – and the rest of the marketplace. Tier 1A firms generated 28% of gross DCIO sales from target-date solutions and only 20% from domestic equity, and 23% from taxable bond. The remaining respondents to Sway's 2020 DCIO Manager Survey, which managed an average of $25 billion of DCIO AUM at mid-year, captured just 14% of sales from target-date, 44% from domestic equity, and 21% from taxable bond. So, while most DCIOs are harnessing domestic equity product to power DCIO sales, target-date is fueling the outsized growth of the Tier 1A (i.e., "Mega") DCIOs. These are just a few of the findings featured in the latest in-depth research report from Sway Research—The State of DCIO Distribution: 2021, Key Benchmarks, Developing Trends, Winners and Outlook. Read more.
March 2, 2020
Target-Date Assets Surge to New Highs in 2019, Reach $2.3 Trillion
Rising Stock Prices Fuel Tremendous Growth for Leading Providers
Assets in Target-Date mutual funds and CITs shattered the $2 trillion mark in 2019, reaching $2.29 trillion by year-end, after beginning the year with $1.77 trillion. The 30% rise in assets was mostly the result of a surge in stock prices, as the S&P 500 Index gained 30% for the year. At year-end 2019, two in five dollars (40%) invested in a non-custom Target-Date solution was invested in a CIT-based solution, up from only 32% at the end of 2015. These are just a few of the findings featured in the latest in-depth research report from Sway Research—The State of the Target-Date Market: 2020, Examining Asset Trends Across Providers, Products, Vehicles, Management Styles, and Glide Path Structures. Read more.
October 23, 2019
DCIO Assets and Sales are Improving While Challenges Remain
Fee Cuts and Collective Investments Threaten Margins
After a rough end to 2018—the result of falling stock prices—DCIO (Defined Contribution Investment-Only) assets rebounded in the first half of 2019 and are on track to break $4.4 trillion by the end of 2019. Sway projects AUM expansion of 15% this year, driven by solid returns in both equity and bond markets, as well as gradual improvement in gross and net sales. Over the 12-month stretch from mid-year 2018 to mid-year 2019, the average asset manager surveyed by Sway saw its DCIO assets grow by more than 6%, as 85% of firms experienced a rise in DCIO AUM. Read more.
March 4, 2019
Target-Date AUM Expand Again in 2018, Despite Stock Market Turmoil
Gains Made in Collective Trust-based Vehicles, While Mutual Fund Solutions Declined
Assets in Target-Date funds grew again in 2018, though growth was somewhat muted thanks to a down market for U.S. stocks. Mutual fund and CIT-based Target-Date solutions reached $1.77 trillion at year-end, up from $1.75 trillion at the end of 2017 — a year-over-year gain of 1.1%. CIT-based solutions began 2018 with $638 billion in assets and ended the year at $677 billion for a gain of 6.1%. Mutual fund-based solutions declined 1.9% — from $1.11 trillion to $1.09 trillion — amid the stock market dip and a trend of Target-Date assets being shifted from mutual funds to lower-cost CITs. These are just a few of the findings featured in the latest in-depth research report from Sway Research—The State of the Target-Date Market: 2019, Examining Asset Trends Across Providers, Products, Vehicles, Management Styles, and Glide Path Structures. Read more.
October 23, 2018
DCIO Units Under Pressure as Leading Distributors Consolidate Assets
Aggregators and Large Recordkeepers Increase Demands on DCIOs, While a Growing Share of Assets Flow to Passive and Target-Date Offerings
The latest in-depth research report from retirement and defined contribution investment-only (DCIO) distribution consultancy, Sway Research, finds many asset managers fighting to maintain positive net inflows of DCIO assets in 2018. The retail DCIO market (i.e., small and mid-size plans sold via advisors and mid-tier consultants) is in a period of transition as the traditional wholesale model remains vital to sales, but new groups are growing in influence, including third-party fiduciaries, distributor 3(38) modelers and investment scorecard providers, and they also need service and support. Read more.
March 5, 2018
Strong Stock Market Returns Push Target-Date Assets Over $1.7 Tr. in 2017
Passive Strategies Still Gaining Market Share, but Active Managers See Solid Growth Too
The strong performing stock market in 2017 helped assets in mutual fund and CIT-based Target-Date solutions reach $1.73 trillion at year-end, up from $1.34 trillion at the end of 2016, as net sales estimates suggest about two-thirds of the gain was due to appreciation. CIT-based solutions began 2017 with $463 billion in assets and ended the year at $621 billion for a 36% gain. Mutual fund solutions rose 26%, from $883 billion to $1.11 trillion at year-end. These are just a few of the findings featured in the latest in-depth research report from Sway Research. Read more.
October 17, 2017
DCIO Units Seeing Strong Asset Growth, Net Sales Back to Black
Though Key Challenges Remain, DCIO Efforts Are on an Upswing Heading into 2018
The latest study from Sway Research, finds conditions improving for defined contribution investment-only (DCIO) sales and marketing units within asset management organizations. Managers are benefiting from stronger asset growth and improving sales. The study, which is based on interviews and surveys of DCIO sales leaders and employer benefits-focused intermediaries, shows that even though target-dates and passive management are still growing in market share, asset managers are adapting and finding ways to generate sales from within, as well as outside, these types of vehicles. Read more.
March 8, 2017
Vanguard Adds $96 Billion in Target-Date Assets in 2016
Target-Date Assets Grow 20% in 2016 as Demand Grows for Collective Trusts and Passive Management
Vanguard Group grew assets under management in Target-Date portfolios by $96 billion in 2016, as assets in the firm’s Target-Date mutual funds and collective investment trusts (CITs) swelled to $450 billion. This left Vanguard in control of 34% of the $1.3 trillion invested in Target-Date mutual funds and CITs at the end of 2016. These findings and many more are from Sway Research's latest in-depth study—The State of the Target-Date Market: 2017, Examining Asset Trends Across Providers, Products, Vehicles, Management Styles, and Key Features. Read more.