Target-date strategies continue to be the go-to retirement savings vehicle for US workers, with over $4 trillion in assets invested in these investments at the end of 2024. That’s larger than all but three of the world’s managed funds markets, behind only the US, Luxembourg, and Ireland.
Given the crucial role of target-date strategies in the US retirement system, Morningstar produces an exhaustive annual Target-Date Fund Landscape report. As of the end of May, Morningstar analysts also rated 55 of the 182 distinct target-date strategies available as mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, and collective investment trust vehicles; that represents $3.8 trillion in assets, or about 95% of all target-date assets.
Based on each analyst-rated target-date strategy’s cheapest share class, the ratings comprise 17 Gold, nine Silver, 12 Bronze, and 17 Neutral ratings across mutual funds, ETFs, and CITs. Morningstar Direct users can see all these ratings and more through our Target-Date Universe screen.
Morningstar’s Best Target-Date Mutual Funds and ETFs
The table below summarizes the Morningstar Medalist Ratings for target-date strategies across mutual funds and ETFs, which are generally broadly available to US-based investors.
The Best Target-Date Collective Investment Trusts
The table below summarizes the Morningstar Medalist Ratings for target-date CITs. CITs are only available through qualified investment savings plans, such as a company’s 401(k) plan. However, they have steadily gained market share and overtook mutual funds, accounting for 52% of assets at the end of 2024.
Gold-Rated Target-Date Strategies
As of the end of May 2025, Morningstar analysts awarded 17 Gold ratings to mutual fund, ETF, and CIT target-date strategies. Asset managers frequently offer the same or similar strategies in multiple vehicles. Where applicable, the summaries below group the vehicles of like strategies for the following Gold-rated target-date offerings:
- BlackRock LifePath Index
- BlackRock LifePath Dynamic
- Capital Group/ American Funds Target-Date
- Capital Group Target Date Retirement Blend
- Fidelity Freedom Index
- T. Rowe Price Retirement
- T. Rowe Price Retirement Blend
- Vanguard Target Retirement CIT
BlackRock LifePath Index
- BlackRock LifePath Index mutual funds
- BlackRock LifePath Index Lendable CITs
- BlackRock LifePath Index non-Lendable CITs
- BlackRock LifePath Index Lendable CITs from Great Gray
- BlackRock LifePath Index non-Lendable CITs from Great Gray
- iShares LifePath Target Date ETFs
In all the BlackRock LifePath Index target-date strategies’ various iterations, including as mutual funds and CITs, they display the hallmarks of first-class target-date options. They have distinctive and well-researched asset-allocation glide paths; and low-cost, efficiently run index-based funds serve as their building blocks. The iShares ETF version of these investments is the only ETF target-date option in the US. Most workplace retirement plans can’t use ETF target dates, but they are strong options for IRAs or taxable accounts.
BlackRock LifePath Dynamic CITs
The BlackRock LifePath Dynamic CITs use the same asset-allocation glide path as their mainstream LifePath Index siblings, but they differ in key ways. This series is much more active, and it uses tactical asset allocation driven by the well-regarded investment team led by Phil Green and Michael Pensky. The series also uses a wider toolkit, including actively managed underlying investments. While its CIT version earns Gold ratings, the mutual fund version’s 13-basis-point higher fees result in a still respectable Medalist Rating of Silver.
Capital Group/American Funds Target-Date
- Capital American Target Date Retirement mutual funds
- Capital Group Target Date Retirement CITs
Capital Group/American Funds’ mutual funds and CITs benefit from an exceptional investment team and some of the industry’s best underlying funds. In the 2025 mutual fund, for example, more than 90% of assets are in funds with Morningstar Medalist Ratings of Bronze, Silver, or Gold; that’s impressive given its all-active fund lineup. This strategy’s investment oversight committee uses an objectives-based approach that allocates assets to broad categories such as “growth” and “growth and income.” As a result, the series moves from growth to value stocks over time, as its focus shifts from capital appreciation to income and capital preservation for investors who are near and in retirement.
Capital Group Target Date Retirement Blend CITs
While the Capital Group Target Date Retirement Blend CITs only debuted in 2024, they still had their more established target-date siblings’ pedigree, including the same well-regarded oversight committee and proven underlying strategies. Here, though, the committee deftly wove in broad index exposure throughout the glide path. The index funds range from 25% of the portfolio for younger investors to 40% for those in retirement. That helps control costs. The share classes’ fees start at 0.25%, a great deal, and gradually drop to 0.14% as investment minimums rise.
Fidelity Freedom Index
- Fidelity Freedom Index mutual funds
- Fidelity Freedom Index Commingled Pool CITs
Whether in mutual fund or CIT format, the Fidelity Freedom Index target-date strategies offer simplified, well-priced, index-based versions of the firm’s best retirement thinking. Fidelity’s 70-person-plus asset-allocation research team is one of the industry’s largest and has dedicated considerable resources to the strategic allocation decisions underpinning these and all of Fidelity’s target-date funds. Unlike its siblings, the Fidelity Freedom Index series doesn’t make opportunistic allocation decisions.
T. Rowe Price Retirement
- T. Rowe Price Retirement mutual funds
- T. Rowe Price Retirement CITs
The T. Rowe Price Retirement target-date mutual funds and CITs remain top-tier choices, backed by a multi-asset organization that distinguishes itself through its resources, stability, and focused research efforts. The series’ high equity allocation across the glide path differentiates it from peers. Workers earliest in their career start with a strategic equity allocation of 98% that’s 5 percentage points above the industry average. The team’s research indicates that the typical retirement savers’ low saving rates justify the heightened equity exposure and the need to mitigate the risk of investors outliving their savings in retirement. However, this approach risks larger losses when stocks tumble.
T. Rowe Price Retirement Blend
- T. Rowe Price Retirement Blend mutual funds
- T. Rowe Price Retirement Blend CITs
The T. Rowe Price Retirement Blend target-date funds are cheaper, somewhat less active versions of the firm’s flagship target-date offering. While these mutual funds and CITs share the same team and asset-allocation glide path, the Blend strategies use active and passive strategies. This gives investors exposure to the firm’s topnotch active managers while lowering costs. Like their counterparts, the Blend strategies include strong active funds like T. Rowe Price Mid-Cap Growth and T. Rowe Price International Stock but also mix in low-cost funds like T. Rowe Price Equity Index 500 and T. Rowe Price QM U.S. Bond Index.
Vanguard Target Retirement CITs
The Vanguard Target Retirement CITs’ unrelenting focus on diversification and low costs remain their competitive edge. The straightforward series invests in four low-cost, diversified index funds that provide efficient exposure to global stocks and bonds. With an asset-allocation glide path that starts at 90% stocks for the youngest investors and rolls down to 30% for those almost a decade into retirement, this glide path takes a bit more stock market risk than peers. This allocation should help keep an investor from outliving their savings, though it also makes the portfolios more susceptible to market downturns. The strategy’s mutual fund version’s expense ratio is 4 basis points higher, resulting in a still-attractive Medalist Rating of Silver.