has many years of experience in investment management in the City of London, on Wall Street and teaching in academia. His current research is focused on asset allocation in target date funds, passive risk based life cycle asset allocation, semi-passive hedge fund replication, alternative assets in life cycle investing and post-retirement optimal asset allocation.Abstract Over recent years there has been a proliferation of lifecycle investment funds. This has created a challenge for fi nancial advisers, consultants and plan sponsors: how to compare one fund to another? This article outlines a straightforward approach to assess and compare the risk-return characteristics of lifecycle investment funds. It is the fi rst paper to highlight and explore a simple relationship between the two most popular lifecycle products, target date funds and target risk funds. Investment fund managers, plan sponsors and consultants may not be aware of the direct relationship between these two types of funds. The approach outlined in this paper is easy to implement and also has the potential to assist investors, plan sponsors and policy makers in better understanding the risk-return characteristics of different lifecycle investment products, and thereby help them make more informed product choices.

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is the Chief Risk Offi cer at the Teacher Retirement System of Texas. His current research is focused on asset allocation in target date funds, passive risk-based lifecycle asset allocation, semi-passive hedge fund replication, intelligent portfolio optimisation, alternative assets in lifecycle investing and post-retirement optimal asset allocation.Abstract Despite the growing importance of target date funds as retirement accumulation vehicles, there exists a paucity of literature on their comparative risk-return characteristics. This paper develops a stochastic simulation model to capture the impact of different target date equity glide paths on retirement wealth creation. The fi ndings are contrasted against the retirement wealth created by a typical defi ned benefi t plan. The results have important implications for target date fund participants and plan sponsors whose fi duciary duty is to select and offer a suitable line of target date products.

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