From Target Date Funds to Target Date ETFs, New Players In Town (DB, TDD, TDH, TDN, TDV, TDX, VTINX, VTXVX, VTWNX, VTHRX, VFORX, VTIVX, FFVFX, FFFDX, FFTWX, FFFEX, FFFGX, FFFHX)

You have likely heard of target date funds, those funds which mix between bond and stock allocations depending upon when your target retirement date happens to be.  There are some new target date ETFs being launched under Deutsche Bank AG (NYSE: DB), which are technically re-branding launches.  Deutsche Bank, via its db-X Group with some $67 billion in assets under management (U.S., Europe and Asia), has just rebranded five Exchange Traded Funds to join its db-X suite of products.  These five funds were previously called TDX Independence Funds and will now be known as now known as the db-X Target Date Funds.

The five funds are as follows:

• db-X 2010 Target Date Fund (NYSE: TDD), previously known as TDX Independence 2010 ETF
• db-X 2020 Target Date Fund (NYSE: TDH), previously known as TDX Independence 2020 ETF.
• db-X 2030 Target Date Fund (NYSE: TDN), previously known as TDX Independence 2030 ETF.
• db-X 2040 Target Date Fund (NYSE: TDV), previously known as TDX Independence 2040 ETF
• db-X In-Target Date Fund (NYSE: TDX), previously known as TDX Independence In-Target ETF

These relaunched ETFs are distributed by ALPS, and DBX Strategic Advisors LLC is the investment advisor to the ETFs. The db-X Target Date Funds seek to track the Zacks Lifecycle indexes that diversify across domestic equities, international equities and fixed income securities which are based on a fixed-term investment horizon.  The db-X Target Date Funds have approximately $134 million in collective assets, but if you will take a look at the Vanguard and the Fidelity target date funds below you will see just how much upside there is for these products. Deutsche Bank currently offers 49 exchange-traded products in the United States with about $14.5 billion in assets under management.

Most ETF and ETP products are based on historic mutual funds.  Vanguard has some of these as follows with assets under management in each fund:

• Vanguard Target Retirement Income (VTINX)… about $4.6 billion;
• Vanguard Target Retirement 2015 (VTXVX)… over $15 billion;
• Vanguard Target Retirement 2020 (VTWNX)… over $12 billion;
• Vanguard Target Retirement 2030 (VTHRX)… over $9 billion;
• Vanguard Target Retirement 2040 (VFORX)… over $5.6 billion;
• Vanguard Target Retirement 2045 (VTIVX)… over $6.5 billion.

Some of Fidelity’s target date (freedom date) funds are as follows with assets under management at each fund:

• Fidelity Freedom 2015 Fund (FFVFX)… almost $9 billion;
• Fidelity Freedom 2020 Fund (FFFDX)… over $20 billion;
• Fidelity Freedom 2025 Fund (FFTWX)… over $10 billion;
• Fidelity Freedom 2030 Fund (FFFEX)… almost $15 billion;
• Fidelity Freedom 2045 Fund (FFFGX)… about $2.75 billion;
• Fidelity Freedom 2050 Fund (FFFHX)… about $2.25 billion.

JON C. OGG