BlackRock Ramps Up Risk in Its Target-Date Funds

The world’s largest asset manager wants workers to take a little more risk in their retirement accounts.

BlackRock is bumping up equity allocations in its lines of target-date funds to 99% for vintages up to 30 years from retirement dates, the company disclosed in regulatory filings on Wednesday. The funds, including those in the iShares LifePath ETF series, will also have higher equity allocations until the target dates, at which point they hit 40%, an amount unchanged from the products’ current glide path. The adjustments, which amount to roughly a 6 percentage-point increase, are set to take effect in June and will make BlackRock’s target-date funds among the most aggressive in the business.

The change follows recent research from the company, which found that longevity is increasing in the US, and that people earn steady incomes for longer than they might have in the past. “We believe they can afford to take modestly more financial risk later in their careers, potentially resulting in greater wealth at retirement approximately 75% of the time,” according to a summary of the report.

A Big Small Change

It’s a seemingly minimal change that will have massive impacts, given the scale of the company’s business. BlackRock’s US target-date assets across mutual funds, ETFs and collective investment trusts represented about $611 billion as of the end of 2025, according to data from Sway Research. Only Vanguard, at nearly $1.8 trillion, and Fidelity with $693 billion, are bigger. BlackRock, which declined an interview, is the only firm offering target-date ETFs. Its line of iShares LifePath funds, which launched in 2023, represent about $400 million in assets.

Industrywide, target-date glide paths, or the asset allocation changes they make over time, have become increasingly equities-heavy. The products were scrutinized during the 2008 financial crisis, when many investors near retirement were stung by losses they didn’t anticipate. Some providers avoided increasing stock exposure in the aftermath, but target-date funds have widely become more aggressive in recent years:

• Target-date funds on average had about 92% allocation to equities in 2024, up from about 85% in 2015, per Morningstar’s most recent Target Date Landscape report.
• At the target date (which is designed to be near retirement), the average equity weighting was 45% in 2024, up from just over 40% in 2015.
• The changes happened as bond yields were less attractive in the 2010s and early 2020s. Meanwhile, more young workers have become invested in target-date funds through their 401(k) plans, and life expectancy has generally increased, the report noted.

Gonna Risk It? Ron Surz, president of Target Date Solutions and the designer of the glide path used by Hand Benefit & Trust’s target-date series, said BlackRock’s funds (along with most products on the market) take on too much risk in the 10 years before and after retirement. “BlackRock is moving in the wrong direction,” Surz said. The funds “are much riskier than the theory they say they follow at the target date. Getting even more risky is a bad move, even though BlackRock is not currently the riskiest.”