Retirement Funds with ETFs

Today we talk about 3 funds from the New York-based asset manager J. & W. Seligman & Co. Inc. : Seligman TargetETFund Core, TargetETFund 2015 and TargetETFund 2025. These funds have combined two of the hottest trends in investing: exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and "target-date" retirement funds. ETFs, which are indexed baskets of securities that trade on exchanges like stocks, have blossomed into a $250 billion business in the U.S. alone. Target-Date Funds ( See our past Posting on this type of Funds ) allocate a portfolio to broad asset classes such as stocks and bonds, reducing investment risk as the retirement date approaches. Assets in these securities jumped 65% to $43.9 billion in 2004.

The Core portfolio of these Seligman funds have 55% in stocks, 35% in fixed-income, and 10% in real estate investment trusts (REITs). Within the equity allocation, 30% is in U.S. large-cap funds, 5% in midcap, 10% in international large-cap and 10% in dividend-focused funds. Seligman says the new mutual funds overcome one of the main obstacles of building portfolio of ETFs and rebalancing it over time. Although ETFs have low expense ratios, investors must pay brokerage commissions to buy and sell shares. ETFs' cost advantage is diminished when contributing small amounts on a periodic basis.

Investors will have to pay for that convenience, however. Including fee waivers, expenses for Class A shares of the three new Seligman funds are 1.09%, for example, with a maximum sales charge or "load" of 4.75%, according to the prospectus. The average expense ratio for a U.S.-listed ETF is 0.42%, according to investment research firm Morningstar Inc.