45.4% of Boomers on Fidelity’s Platform Keep Every 401(k) Dollar in One Target-Date Fund. Here’s What That Fund Actually Holds at 67
Nearly half of Boomers on Fidelity's platform park every 401(k) dollar in a single target-date fund and never look inside it. What that fund actually holds at retirement age depends on details the fund itself knows nothing about.
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Target-date funds are the default investment in most workplace retirement plans, and many older savers use one for their whole 401(k). 45.4% of Boomers have all their 401(k) savings in a target-date fund, according to Fidelity’s Q4 2025 401(k) data.
The share is 54.9% for Gen X and 63.0% for savers overall. Many Boomers chose the fund with their retirement year in the name when they signed up, and they haven’t looked inside it since.
Recent pieces here used the same Fidelity report to cover the average Boomer 401(k) balance of $270,800 and savers in their 50s who keep everything in stocks. This is why it’s worth examining what a target-date fund actually holds once its owner reaches retirement age.
How a Target-Date Fund Works in Plain Terms
A target-date fund is a single fund that holds a mix of stocks and bonds. The year in its name is roughly when the owner expects to retire. In the early years, it holds mostly stocks, which tend to grow more over long stretches but swing harder.
As the target year gets closer, the fund gradually moves money into bonds, which usually move less. That planned shift over time is called a glide path.
Fidelity uses a sample glide path to judge whether savers are invested in a way that fits their age. It starts at 90% stocks at age 25 and falls to 19% stocks 10 to 19 years after retirement.
Fidelity says older workers often joined their plans before automatic enrollment began placing new hires straight into target-date funds. More than 40% of workers in their 50s and early 60s choose their own investments.
What’s Inside a 2025 Fund Right Now
Someone who’s 67 today probably retired around 2025, so a 2025 fund is the closest match. One of the largest 2025 funds reported its holdings as of June 30, 2026. About 48% was in U.S. and international stock index funds. About 51% was in bond funds, and a short-term inflation-protected bond fund made up roughly 8.6% of assets.
That split looks a lot like how older savers are invested in general. Vanguard’s How America Saves 2025 found that participants 65 or older had a median stock allocation of 50%. Vanguard’s 2026 edition found that 73% of target-date investors held just one target-date fund in 2025.
Funds That Stop at Retirement Versus Funds That Keep Going
Funds with the same year on the label can hold quite different mixes when that year comes. The Department of Labor tells participants that “it is important to know whether a target date fund’s glide path uses a ‘to retirement’ or a ‘through retirement’ approach.”
A “to” fund hits its most conservative mix at the target date and stays there. A “through” fund keeps moving toward bonds for years after the target date, so it usually holds more stock on retirement day.
Why the Same Fund Can Fit One Retiree and Miss Another
A target-date fund knows only the year on the label. It has no information about Social Security, a pension, a spouse’s 401(k), or savings held somewhere else, and all of those affect how much risk a 401(k) can reasonably carry.
Take two 67-year-olds in the same 2025 fund, using stated assumptions. The first lives on Social Security at about the typical retiree’s benefit of $2,071 a month and has no pension. The 401(k) must cover everything else, including the standard Medicare Part B premium of $202.90 a month.
A sharp drop in stocks would hit money set aside for regular bills, so a near-even split could be more aggressive than this retiree can handle.
The second retiree gets the same Social Security check plus a pension that covers basic costs. For this person, the 401(k) is extra money that may sit untouched for a decade, so a fund with about half in bonds could be more conservative than the situation calls for.
The gap between the two cases really comes down to the danger of a market drop early in retirement, which hurts far more than one that hits later (we walked through how to protect those first few years of withdrawals in a free guide here: The First Five Years).
Fees Weigh More Once Contributions Stop
Every target-date fund charges an expense ratio, which is a yearly fee taken as a percentage of the balance. Costs differ between fund families and between index-based and actively managed series.
In retirement, the fee comes out of a balance that’s usually near its peak, and no new contributions make it up. A mix with more bonds also tends to earn less, so the same fee takes a bigger share of the return. Each plan’s annual fee disclosure lists the expense ratio.
One Chart That Answers Most of These Questions
A fund’s glide path chart is usually in the fact sheet or prospectus. It shows the stock share at each age and whether the fund stops changing at the target year or keeps going. The 10-year Treasury yield was 5.05% on October 28, 2026, up from 4.11% a year earlier.
That change affects the bond half of these funds. Putting the chart next to Social Security, pension income, and outside savings shows how the fund’s mix lines up with the rest of a retiree’s income.
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David Beren has been a Flywheel Publishing contributor since 2022. Writing for 24/7 Wall St. since 2023, David loves to write about topics of all shapes and sizes. As a technology expert, David focuses heavily on consumer electronics brands, automobiles, and general technology. He has previously written for LifeWire, formerly About.com. As a part-time freelance writer, David’s “day job” has been working on and leading social media for multiple Fortune 100 brands. David loves the flexibility of this field and its ability to reach customers exactly where they like to spend their time. Additionally, David previously published his own blog, TmoNews.com, which reached 3 million readers in its first year. In addition to freelance and social media work, David loves to spend time with his family and children and relive the glory days of video game consoles by playing any retro game console he can get his hands on.
