Franklin Life Smart Retirement Target Fund

Franklin Templeton mutual funds: The new fund joins a lineup that includes 2015, 2020, 2025, 2030, 2035, 2040, 2045 and 2050 funds. "The Franklin Life Smart 2055 Retirement Target Fund is aimed at millennial investors who plan to retire in or near the year 2055 and reflects our ongoing commitment to innovating solutions for the retirement marketplace," said Yaqub Ahmed, head of the investment-only division in the US for Franklin Templeton Investments, according to Market Watch. Like the existing Franklin Life Smart Retirement Target Funds, the new 2055 fund will target a five percent allocation to alternative investment funds to take advantage of their lower correlation, in general, with traditional asset classes. Like other funds in the lineup, the fund assets are allocated among the broad asset classes of equity, fixed-income and alternative investments by investing predominantly in other Franklin Templeton mutual funds, based on each underlying fund predominant asset class and strategy. The funds' managers have the ability to tactically adjust this allocation within a range of zero to 10 percent as they shift the funds' allocations based on changing market conditions. "As part of our continued efforts to generate better designed retirement funds, we include a strategic weighting to alternative investment funds for each of our Franklin Life Smart Retirement Target Funds," said Tom Nelson, CFA , one of the funds' portfolio managers with Franklin Templeton Solutions. "We have found through extensive research and modeling that this asset class may provide diversification benefits and may help improve the risk/return profile of these portfolios." Franklin Life Smart Retirement Target Funds combine the simplicity of asset allocation and risk management with active, flexible portfolio management. This risk-focused approach to portfolio management enables the investment team to identify short-term market opportunities and dislocations and to implement tactical shifts between asset classes based on the assessment of the most significant risks and opportunities identified in the market. The funds' managers continuously evaluate each fund strategic allocation and have the flexibility to make tactical adjustments to seek the highest level of long-term total return consistent with its asset allocation strategy. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.