are target date funds expensive 
in general a target date fund may have somewhat of a higher expense ratio compared to a standard mutual fund this is because the target date fund even if it is an index target date fund is essentially a fund of funds that invests in other mutual funds moreover the fund has to rebalance its portfolio regularly to match the glide path so it is more active than a standard index fund that said many target date index funds available today have low expense ratios of 0 10 or lower can i use a target date fund in my 401 k or individual retirement account yes most plan providers today offer access to target date funds however for these to work properly be careful to only use a target date fund for nearly all of your allocations this is because if you allocate money to other investments it may defeat the purpose of the glide path provided in the target date fund 