IMO about Target Funds,  Indexing and Don't count Fido out Either .

"The Creation of Target Funds is due in part to the proven success of Relatively Newer Balanced Funds by their Competitors and thus Target funds were created to "keep customers $ In House"  and have also been an addmitance to their own Incompetence that their Own Bal. Funds have not remained competitive..and have been Failures as a result, mostly due to their "Fund Mgr(s)" lack of abilities.."

1. Spending yrs investing in Both Index and Other Funds to no avail and doing a lot of the Common Mistakes Described in this course> 11 reasons passive investors let Wall Street steal their money - MarketWatch   & &  Amazon.com: The Brainwashing of the American Investor: The book that Wall Street does not want you to read!: Steven R. Seleng..

2.  and after Comparing and tracking Several Recommended Ports. by " Top Pro's" and btwn a Dozen Investment Firms Interviewed.....

3. I gave up trying to " Beat the Pro's" and found that per my Limited Abilities, I was better off putting most of my $ into Balanced Funds ( BF's) since 1999..and 'Just Let them Decide' and it was a Good Thing I did.., for if I had remained in my Former Portfolio of  a Combination of Index and Other Funds? I would have Lost over -30% of my $..

4. and After Retirement, I just added Some Bond Funds to have a More Flexible Port. to either Add too or subtract from per Market conditions and Just plain guessing.

5. I also picked Funds that Did the Best in Bear Markets and  performed  as well as Comparable Index funds/Ports in Bull and subtracted -10% from their past 10 yr apy's for a "Added Margin of Safety for future expectations" ..This inturn forced me to Allocate More $ to them and Leave me with Less to go Gambling with & Higher Risk.

6. Keeping 10% out to Invest on the Dips in a Bull and 20% out when a Bear Market Loams ahead..

7. And After you exceed having enough in this kind of Conservative Port per  your Retirement planning needs, use  excess $  for "trying your luck" at more aggressive investments if you want..( I only needed to allocate about 80% to My Conservative Retirement Port and could still Play with the remaining 20% )

8. and If you determine you Either need or Want to make More due to (a) Not Saving Enough and want to force the market to make it up for you or (b)  For your Greedy side? Your on Your own & wish you luck! But I doubt you will Beat the Pro's, since I feel " The Odds are Against Us" and the Markets are more Volatile in the past 10 yrs. than in anytime in history due to the Advent of the PC & Internet & there being 5x More Funds & Amature & Professional Individuals inlfluencing & corrupting the Markets, than anytime in History..

9. And of course, My and any others recommendations should always be fully researched  before you invest your own $ and Invest in 25% Increments of your $ over your first couple of Yrs..

10. If the primary Equity Indexes did  +8.7% apy the past 10 yrs and a  60/40 Port. of Index Funds did 7.7% apy  while a Port of Balanced Funds did 10.4% for the same period ? Why bother with the 1st 2? 

To Improve your odds of Success,  "Always Buy Investments & Set Up your Allocations based upon How they Did in the previous Bear Markets and Not in Bull, for anyone can do well in a Bull Market"..Warren Buffet

 The following Has worked out very well for Me , My Kids and Friends since 1999 to YTD..and hope they will in the future..but due to so many variables, one can never be certain..   (  My Portfolio's Past 8 yrs of  btwn 00-07' ave. a  13.5% apy vs a Comparable Port. of Indexes did only 7.4% apy )

I recommend you Look at:

Per Scott Burns -investment firm has advised:
> for Short Term Cash? VSGBX ( +3.5%)

 and Ck out FIBIX ( +7.7%) for longer than 1 yr..

And  for:
> For Longer Term investing while still working :         A. 80% in A port of invested equally in 3-4 Balanced Funds, such as FPACX,OAKBX,PRPFX, WMRIX. ( or If less than $500k, WMMRX ) ave mix of about 60/40 ...beating  comparable same mix of Index Funds for the past 3,5 & 10 yrs..by +3% apy. and since these Bal. funds take out the "X Factor" ..you, the amature Investor ..by just letting them make the decisions..not you..

B. 20% in whatever other Port of Funds you want to try..

and just watch them for the next 5-8 yrs..

And  for:
> For Longer Term investing while still working :         A. 80% in A port of invested equally in 3-4 Balanced Funds, such as FPACX,OAKBX,PRPFX, WMRIX. ( or If less than $500k, WMMRX ) ave mix of about 60/40 ...beating  comparable same mix of Index Funds for the past 3,5 & 10 yrs..by +3% apy. and since these Bal. funds take out the "X Factor" ..you, the amature Investor ..by just letting them make the decisions..not you..

B. 20% in whatever other Port of Funds you want to try..

and just watch them for the next 5-8 yrs..

 and Ck out FIBIX ( +7.7%) for longer than 1 yr..

And  for:
> For Longer Term investing while still working :         A. 80% in A port of invested equally in 3-4 Balanced Funds, such as FPACX,OAKBX,PRPFX, WMRIX. ( or If less than $500k, WMMRX ) ave mix of about 60/40 ...beating  comparable same mix of Index Funds for the past 3,5 & 10 yrs..by +3% apy. and since these Bal. funds take out the "X Factor" ..you, the amature Investor ..by just letting them make the decisions..not you..

B. 20% in whatever other Port of Funds you want to try..

and just watch them for the next 5-8 yrs..

And  for:
> For Longer Term investing while still working :         A. 80% in A port of invested equally in 3-4 Balanced Funds, such as FPACX,OAKBX,PRPFX, WMRIX. ( or If less than $500k, WMMRX ) ave mix of about 60/40 ...beating  comparable same mix of Index Funds for the past 3,5 & 10 yrs..by +3% apy. and since these Bal. funds take out the "X Factor" ..you, the amature Investor ..by just letting them make the decisions..not you..

B. 20% in whatever other Port of Funds you want to try..

and just watch them for the next 5-8 yrs..

Per Scott Burns -investment firm has advised:
> for Short Term Cash? VSGBX ( +3.5%)

 and Ck out FIBIX ( +7.7%) for longer than 1 yr..

And  for:
> For Longer Term investing while still working :         A. 80% in A port of invested equally in 3-4 Balanced Funds, such as FPACX,OAKBX,PRPFX, WMRIX. ( or If less than $500k, WMMRX ) ave mix of about 60/40 ...beating  comparable same mix of Index Funds for the past 3,5 & 10 yrs..by +3% apy. and since these Bal. funds take out the "X Factor" ..you, the amature Investor ..by just letting them make the decisions..not you..

B. 20% in whatever other Port of Funds you want to try..

and just watch them for the next 5-8 yrs..

And  for:
> For Longer Term investing while still working :         A. 80% in A port of invested equally in 3-4 Balanced Funds, such as FPACX,OAKBX,PRPFX, WMRIX. ( or If less than $500k, WMMRX ) ave mix of about 60/40 ...beating  comparable same mix of Index Funds for the past 3,5 & 10 yrs..by +3% apy. and since these Bal. funds take out the "X Factor" ..you, the amature Investor ..by just letting them make the decisions..not you..

B. 20% in whatever other Port of Funds you want to try..

and just watch them for the next 5-8 yrs..

    > 3 yrs prior too and After Retirement: The before mentioned  Bal. Funds + adding Bond funds to have no more than 50/50 and if can afford to, a 40/60 Bal. Portfolio..

> When The Next Bear Market comes  ( and it will )? Insure your $ and Ck out New Short Funds for Mutual Funds that allow MF investors to Insure their Funds , ( like Stock investors have been able too use Short Options) and take out 5-10% for :                      Pro Funds -Ultra Short Funds of : UXPIX , URPIX or GRZZX or short ETFs like UltraShort S&P 500 Proshares (SDS    

and Don't get greedy using them, sell them as soon as your Port is even at the end of the yr. and/or you  suspect markets Leveling off and /or Starting to recover.

> As of 10/09/08 :  My Retirement Port is  Dwn. -2.5 % YTD vs a Comparative Bal. Index Port is Dwn - 13.4% ytd.

 Warning! > DYOR!..DoYourOwnResearch.. Don't invest just on my or anyone else's opinions! I'm just a 60 yr old retired Limo Business guy that is guessing like everyone else and I have just been lucky these past 8 yrs since being in these funds with my Retirement $ with ave. a 13.5% apy. I compare my choices to Index Ports of VWELX, VWINX and other Index Ports by Pro's, like Fund Advice/PaulMerriman @ FundAdvice.com - Home , PAUL B. FARRELL's @ Lazy Portfolio's ,  Scott Burns @ AssetBuilder Inc. - Retirement Investment Advisor , Annex Wealth Management along with using  Lipper Funds Research | SmartMoney.com  &  Bal. Fund Compare (Fund Compare) | SmartMoney.com ,&  Bob Brinker's Land of Critical Mass :plus a Dozen  other Pro's & Investment Firms too and it's  STILL a Guessing game.! Thus I accepted my Limitations and put *80% of my $ into BF's (Balanced Funds ) of FPACX,OAKBX,PRPFX & WMRIX and just let them decide for me, since they have proven to do a better job of it  than I ever have before and Since.   Maybe you will do better, butt I doubt it.. Why? " The Odds R Against you"   Read this> 11 reasons passive investors let Wall Street steal their money - MarketWatch    &  Amazon.com: The Brainwashing of the American Investor: The book that Wall Street does not want you to read!: Steven R. Seleng.. My Name is Dennis @ DKP50@aol.com Supporting The ADA and JDRF Assoc. for diabetes for a cure and I am always open to suggestions to Improve my Investing methods..

 Warning! > DYOR!..DoYourOwnResearch.. Don't invest just on my or anyone else's opinions! I'm just a 60 yr old retired Limo Business guy that is guessing like everyone else and I have just been lucky these past 8 yrs since being in these funds with my Retirement $ with ave. a 13.5% apy. I compare my choices to Index Ports of VWELX, VWINX and other Index Ports by Pro's, like Fund Advice/PaulMerriman @ FundAdvice.com - Home , PAUL B. FARRELL's @ Lazy Portfolio's ,  Scott Burns @ AssetBuilder Inc. - Retirement Investment Advisor , Annex Wealth Management along with using  Lipper Funds Research | SmartMoney.com  &  Bal. Fund Compare (Fund Compare) | SmartMoney.com ,&  Bob Brinker's Land of Critical Mass :plus a Dozen  other Pro's & Investment Firms too and it's  STILL a Guessing game.! Thus I accepted my Limitations and put *80% of my $ into BF's (Balanced Funds ) of FPACX,OAKBX,PRPFX & WMRIX and just let them decide for me, since they have proven to do a better job of it  than I ever have before and Since.   Maybe you will do better, butt I doubt it.. Why? " The Odds R Against you"   Read this> 11 reasons passive investors let Wall Street steal their money - MarketWatch    &  Amazon.com: The Brainwashing of the American Investor: The book that Wall Street does not want you to read!: Steven R. Seleng.. My Name is Dennis @ DKP50@aol.com Supporting The ADA and JDRF Assoc. for diabetes for a cure and I am always open to suggestions to Improve my Investing methods..