About
In 2021, we saw COVID variants emerge, global equities diverge, yield curves flatten, commodity prices rise, inflation spike, the U.S. dollar strengthen, and a slew of other developments. All of these shifts make us wonder how investors relying on target-date funds to grow and protect their retirement savings fared in this backdrop. Join Jeff Holt, Alex Brownlee and Julie Varga from Morningstar Investment Management LLC as they dive into 2021 performance for target-date funds and then discuss some looming risks for target-date funds. And as the path for considering sustainability in default investments like target-date funds started to clear in 2021, they will also share insight into how target-date funds look from a sustainability viewpoint. Key discussion points include:

• 2021 performance for target-date funds, including some key drivers and how it evolved over the year

• Various risks building in the current market environment, such as the potential for rising interest rates and rising
inflation, and how they could affect target-date fund returns

• How the universe of target-date funds looks when considering environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors,
including comparisons of the Morningstar® Sustainability Rating™

This webinar is pending acceptance from the CFP® Board, Fi360, and the Investments & Wealth Institute® for one continuing education (CE) credit for AIF®, AIFA®, PPC®, CFP®, CIMA®, CPWA®, CIMC®, and RMA® designations.
Presenters
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Alexander Brownlee
Senior Investment Analyst , Morningstar Investment Management
Alexander Brownlee is a Senior Investment Analyst in the Target-Date Strategies team within Morningstar Investment Management LLC. He is responsible for managing multi-asset portfolios for plan providers, plan sponsors, mutual funds, and insurance and money-management companies. He works with clients to create custom glide paths, select appropriate asset classes, construct strategic asset allocation portfolios, and select managers.  He joined Morningstar, Inc. in 2017 and served as a customer support representative and team leader through the Morningstar Development Program before joining Morningstar Investment Management in 2018.
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Jeff Holt
Portfolio Manager, Target-Date Strategies, Morningstar Investment Management
Jeff Holt, CFA, is a portfolio manager of target-date strategies for Morningstar Investment Management LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Morningstar, Inc. Prior to assuming his current role in December 2019, Holt served as director of multi-asset and alternative strategies for Morningstar Research Services LLC, leading a team of research analysts and authoring research such as the annual Morningstar Target-Date Fund Landscape Report.
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Julie Varga
Vice President, Product and Investment Specialist, Morningstar Investment Management
Julie Varga is Vice President, Product and Investment Specialist within Morningstar’s Investment Management division. She works with a team of investment, client service, and sales professionals to develop business and client strategy in the defined contribution plan sponsor marketplace and acts as a subject matter expert for the managed accounts and target-date solutions.
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The Morningstar® Sustainability Rating™ is intended to measure of how well companies within a fund’s portfolio are managing their environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) risks and opportunities relative to the fund’s Morningstar category peers.