Perspective

Strategic asset allocation for retirement-focused investors: Fidelity’s research-driven approach to target date funds

Fidelity’s target date team details its approach to evaluating participant needs, behavioral dynamics, and market uncertainty to build resilient portfolios and capital markets, emphasizing diversification to manage uncertainties, achieve returns, and balance various risks.

By: Brett Sumsion Andrew Dierdorf Finola McGuire Foley Cait Dourney Earle Chris Luongo Susan Ye Darren Zeng Vardan Verdiyan

Updated: 10/14/2026

Key Takeaways

Retirement investing requires navigating uncertainty in both participant outcomes and capital markets, making strategic asset allocation the foundation of a target date solution.
The strategic asset allocation in the target date portfolios we manage is informed by research on participants and capital markets that seeks to align portfolios with investors’ evolving financial needs, behaviors, and retirement goals. This approach seeks to balance growth potential, diversification, and risks through retirement.
We integrate this research in asset/liability and portfolio resiliency frameworks to evaluate trade-offs among growth, income sustainability, and downside protection. These frameworks provide insights that help to shape the strategic allocations for investors at each point in their life cycles.
Diversification can foster resiliency in investment performance across distinct market environments within a strategic asset allocation to reflect our unique insights about the types and importance of various risks that investors experience when preparing for and living in retirement.

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