Senator Asks DOL, SEC to Regulate Target-Date Funds

Target-date funds continue to take the heat for buckling under the pressures of the market’s decline.

Sen. Herb Kohl (D.-Wisc.), who has roundly criticized target-date funds for assuming too much risk, called upon the Department of Labor and Securities and Exchange Commission this week to regulate the funds’ holdings and marketing claims.

Last month, the senator noted that equity holdings in the 2010 target-date funds ranged anywhere from 8% to 68%, and one 2010 fund fell 40% last year.

Although fund companies have recently argued that because people may live 30 years in retirement they need the added equity exposure, Kohl has countered that the volatility of the market has made that argument moot, if not false.

On a related note, Hartford Financial Services on Monday announced that it was scaling back the equity exposure in its target-date funds and rounding out it lineup with six additional offerings.