this post was submitted on 04 Aug 2024
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Timed funds may not have a yield listed as each one is customized to the year it "completes" and may not have much data yet. If you have the option, a fund like FZROX, continually contributed to and left alone for 25 years should yield nice results.
OP is risk-averse, and FZROX will buck like bronco. If OP can automate it and conveniently "forget" the password, then yeah, go for it. But if OP things they're likely to panic sell, FZROX isn't the best option, they'll need some bonds to calm that horse down a bit.
Lifepath Idx 2050 should do that, but it'll take a few years for the bond portion to increase (seems to currently be 8?). I'd need to know more about what "risk averse" means, but Lifepath idx 2040 is currently ~25% fixed income, so the 2050 should get more conservative pretty quickly.
I guess I shouldn't have said risk adverse, just diversified. I'm not worried about panic selling (I just check in once in a while, I like to set it and forget it for long term accounts like this), but I do want something that's not just a single stock or industry.
Ok, well your 401k is very unlikely to offer single stocks or single industry, most of the funds it'll offer will be diversified.
If you care more about total returns, I recommend just getting either a Total Stock Market fund (if it's offered) or an S&P 500 fund, since pretty much every 401k will have access to one of those. The S&P 500 is something like 85% of the US stock market, so it's plenty diversified.
I personally invest in a mix of international total stock market and US total stock market funds in a 70/30 mix (global market cap is about 60/40, so I'm heavier on US stocks), and my 401k offers really low-cost funds for those. However, that's not true everywhere, so you may need to be careful about fees (though Fidelity 401ks usually have low-cost funds).
If you provide a list of your options, I can make some specific recommendations.
Thank you for the feedback! I played the options in another comment, and it seems your advice is shared by others!