XTF Advisors, the manager of the XTF series of lifecycle and allocation open-end mutual funds-of-ETFs, filed today to liquidate its entire line-up of funds. The funds slated for liquidation on March 11, 2008, include the following:

• XTF 2010 ETF Portfolio
• XTF 2020 ETF Portfolio
• XTF 2030 ETF Portfolio
• XTF 2040+ ETF Portfolio
• XTF Conservative ETF Portfolio
• XTF Moderate ETF Portfolio
• XTF Aggressive ETF Portfolio
• XTF Sector Rotation Portfolio
• XTF Country Rotation Portfolio

Most of these portfolios were relatively young and none had managed to gather assets, not a terribly surprising outcome considering that lifecycle/target products have proved most popular within retirement plans, a space that remains terra incognita to most ETFs. True, these weren't ETFs. But firms like Fidelity, T. Rowe ,and Vanguard have a chokehold on the retirement market by virtue of their recorkeeping businesses. That surely made it difficult for a firm like XTF to find an audience for its funds, which distinguished themselves from the increasingly crowded field of target funds by dint of their all-ETF make-up. (Most other such funds consist of other open-end funds, almost invariably drawn from the sponsoring firm's line-up.)