Morningstar analysts are sort of fighting and sort of supporting a regulatory proposal from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Yesterday, 401kWire reported that Joe Mansueto's sent a letter to the SEC on Friday, offering general support for the SEC's plans to change the way information about target-date funds is disclosed to investors [other comment letters]. Yet the Morningstar team wonders if requiring companies to disclose their total target-year equity asset allocation up top would really help investors better understand target date funds.

"Showing a '40%' next to all of the funds not yet to the target date is not the ideal way to provide this information," MStar's Jeremy Stempien told MFWire in an e-mailed statement.

InvestmentNews also reported on Morningstar's letter.

"The SEC has been talking about releasing rules around TD fund disclosure for several years," Lutton told MFWire. "I'm pretty confident that there are some folks in the industry who are waiting for instructions, and we certainly think it'll be good for there to be clarified rules. That way it'll be easier for customers and also easier for researchers like us to compare the series and really understand the risk profiles." 

Edited by: Irene Park


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