BlackRock Releases Customizable TDF Framework

BlackRock launched LifePath Solutions Wednesday, a customizable target-date investment framework meant to alter 401(k) funds for individual workforces.

The solution combines plan and participant analysis with the option to add BlackRock’s portfolio-construction capabilities and access to private and public markets, guaranteed lifetime income, and active and index strategies. The framework is built within BlackRock’s $770 billion LifePath platform, which also includes BlackRock’s target-date fund with embedded guaranteed income, LifePath Paycheck.

“What we’re trying to figure out is: How do we improve the retirement outcomes?” said Nick Nefouse, BlackRock’s global head of retirement solutions and head of LifePath, in a previous PLANADVISER interview. “I think we get lost a lot of times in whether [to adopt] private markets or guaranteed income or active versus passive [trading]. … Many of the tools that are available in our pension plans are needed in our 401(k) plans to derive better retirement outcomes.”

Operating as a research engine, LifePath Solutions applies a demographic-specific analysis via which a worker’s earnings, savings and expected retirement date are analyzed alongside plan characteristics and benefits to inform the appropriate glide path, risk level and investment approach.

An individual employer can choose from traditional index or active approaches or a whole-portfolio approach designed with tools often available in traditional pensions, such as private and public investment allocations and lifetime income solutions, according to the announcement.

“Retirement is entering a new era,” said Jaime Magyera, BlackRock’s head of retirement and U.S. wealth advisory, in a statement. “As traditional pensions are increasingly scarce and individuals take on greater responsibility for funding retirement, plan sponsors are looking for more effective ways to help American workers achieve better outcomes.”