Target date funds promise a simple retirement glide path, but getting too conservative too fast can be its own kind of risk. Financial planners warn that near retirees face two competing threats simultaneously: market losses right before they start withdrawing, and the slow erosion of inflation and rising healthcare costs eating into a portfolio that's been dialed down too far into bonds and cash. The fix isn't complicated, just underused. Pull up your target date fund's actual glide path and check what percentage sits in stocks today rather than assuming the fund name tells the whole story. Then check whether it follows a to retirement design, which reaches its most conservative mix right at the target date, or a through retirement approach, which keeps de risking for years afterward and can leave you underweight equities exactly when you still need decades of growth. The goal is enough stock exposure to outrun inflation without forcing a sale during a bad market.

Finsum: A target date fund doing its job on autopilot can still leave you dangerously light on stocks heading into a multi decade retirement, and checking the actual glide path takes ten minutes most people never spend.