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Agency Problems in Target-Date Funds

Sandhya, Vallapuzha
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Abstract

Target-Date Funds (TDFs) facilitate retirement planning by varying asset allocation over time with the goal of reducing portfolio risk. We explore potential agency problems in TDFs by examining their return performance and flow-performance relation. We find that TDFs under-perform balanced funds (BFs) which are also approved as a default option along with TDFs in 401(k) plans with automatic enrollment. We show that the under-performance is driven by TDFs that have a fund-of-fund structure and constituent funds with high expense ratios or poor performance within the fund family. Additionally, we discover an absence of flow-performance relation in TDFs while BFs exhibit the convex flow-performance relation shown for mutual funds. Our evidence suggests the presence of agency problems in TDFs arising from investor inertia, weak incentives for fund managers to outperform peers, and opportunities for fund families to gain private benefits.

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Date
2012-01-12
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Research Projects
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Keywords
Mutual funds, Target-date funds, Agency problems, 401(k) plans
Citation
Sandhya, Vallapuzha. "Agency Problems in Target-Date Funds." 2012. Dissertation, Georgia State University. https://doi.org/10.57709/2388750
Embargo Lift Date
2011-12-05
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