As reported last month by
The MFWire's sister publication,
The 401kWire (login required),
Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wisconsin) has set his sights on target-date funds. In Tuesday's
Wall Street Journal
Fund Track, Daisy Maxey reports that Kohl, who chairs
the Senate Committee on Aging, is prodding the Department of Labor to regulate the composition
and marketing of target-date funds, and is urging the SEC to look into to the funds' composition and disclosure.
The senator plans to meet with labor officials "in coming weeks" to talk about target-date funds,
Maxey reports.
Last month, Kohl and his committee held a hearing on called
Boomer Bust? Securing Retirement
in a Volatile Economy. Target-date funds were set to be one of several topics discussed
during that hearing, but the subject barely came up (see
The 401kWire, 02/25/09). In his opening statement, Kohl mentioned the "wide variety of stock exposure" among the funds
and his concern about the lack of regulations on the funds' composition. He didn't ask questions
on target-date funds, however, and his colleagues didn't mention target-date funds at all.
Meanwhile,
Hartford Financial's announcement on Monday that it is adding six funds to its
target-date lineup also gained coverage in the Fund Track column. Hartford's target-date
menu now consists of nine funds with target-dates in five-year increments ranging from
2010 and 2050. 
Stay ahead of the news ... Sign up for our email alerts now
CLICK HERE