Many target retirement date funds, particularly those aimed at 2010, had a rough 2008 amidst the market turmoil, a fact the mass media continues to point out. In Saturday's Wall Street Journal, Tom Lauricella sings a familiar tune, namely that all target date funds are not created equal.

OppenheimerFunds's Lifecycle Transition 2010 Fund (down 41.3 percent last year) and AllianceBernstein's 2010 Retirement Strategy Fund (down 32.9 percent) gain some negative attention over their losses, while Wells Fargo Advantage 2010 (down 11.2 percent) and DWS Target 2010 (down 3.6 percent) land a little praise for minimizing losses in their funds. Ibbotson chief investment officer Thomas Idzorek provides some expert analysis on the subject.

Fundsters and defined contribution industry insiders may have noticed the negative target date press for some time. In November, Forbes reported on ten 2010 funds that had already lost at least 30 percent year-to-date (see our sister publication, The 401kWire, 11/7/2008). In December MarketWatch columnist Chuck Jaffe gave one of his "Lump of Coal Awards" to all 2010 target date funds, and last week the Journal's own Eleanor Laise pointed to the failure of target date funds, specifically 2010 ones, as one of the reasons why 401(k)s are failing (see MFWire, 1/8/2009). 

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