Target Date Funds vs. Custom Investment Allocation: A Deep Dive

Target Date Funds vs. Custom Investment Allocation: A Deep Dive

In this episode of The Retire Early Retire Now podcast, hosted by Hunter Kelly, a certified financial planner and owner of Palm Valley Wealth Management, listeners are given an in-depth comparison between target date funds and custom investment allocations. After a two-week hiatus due to a busy review season, Kelly discusses the convenience and benefits of target date funds, such as ease of use, automatic rebalancing, and broad diversification. However, he also highlights the limitations for high-income earners, including lack of personalization and tax inefficiency. The episode then explores the advantages of a custom allocation, focusing on personalized asset mixes, cost and tax efficiency, and a deeper understanding of one's financial portfolio. Kelly provides practical advice based on the listener's stage in their investing career and emphasizes the importance of a holistic view of all investment accounts. The episode wraps up with tips for those considering professional financial advice and a call to action to engage with the podcast for further insights.

00:00 Introduction and Welcome

00:43 Topic Overview: Target Date Funds vs. Custom Investment Allocation

02:34 Understanding Target Date Funds

06:48 Pros of Target Date Funds

12:52 Cons of Target Date Funds

18:33 Exploring Custom Investment Allocation

21:57 Pros and Cons of Custom Allocation

28:45 Recap and Final Thoughts

33:15 Conclusion and Call to Action

Check out the Palm Valley Wealth Management Website
PalmValleywm.com

Check us out on
Instagram
LinkedIn
Facebook
Listen to the Podcast Here!
Apple
Spotify

Transcript

0:00

And welcome back to The Retire Early Retire Now podcast. I'm your host, hunter Kelly, owner of Palm Valley Wealth Management. Take three and welcome back to The Retire Early Retire Now podcast. I'm your host, hunter Kelly, certified financial planner, and I do this podcast every Tuesday to help high income earners maximize their wealth. And so, uh, how to take a two week break, busy through review season, and the market's been crazy, so wanted to spend time. Uh, with my clients for their reviews and answering any questions that they may have. Have a handful of clients retiring this year, so pretty busy with that. So I appreciate you guys being patient with me. But today we're gonna talk about, uh, target date funds versus I. Custom investment allocation. So if you think about your situation, you may be a busy professional earning well over$250,000 a year. Maybe your physician, a business, uh, owner, uh attorney, and your retirement portfolio is on autopilot because you're, uh, investing in what's called target date funds. And it's easy, it's hands off. It's automated, but are you settling for an average outcome? Uh, that's what we're gonna talk about today. We're gonna dive into whether a one size fits all target date fund is the best thing for you, or building a custom investment allocation could better suit your above average needs. Um, and we'll break down the pros and cons of each approach, discuss different types of accounts and what you should. Decide based off, uh, those accounts, whether that be 4 0 1 Ks, IRAs, brokerage accounts, what factors you should take into consideration there. Go over a few real world case studies and so we'll decide, hopefully help you decide, hey, am I doing the right thing investment wise or is there something else I could be better? Uh. Align with my goals and needs. And so stick around for more practical tips as we call to action to make sure your money is working as hard as it can for you. And so before we get started, go ahead and, uh, there is a text me button on, uh, the podcasting app. So if you're listening on audio, uh, let me know what you want to hear more of. Is it more the investment talk? Is it more the planning? Uh, is there something else that you wanna hear about? If you're, uh, listening on YouTube, drop a comment below on this video and like this video as well. Well, and wherever you're listening from, share this with a friend. So let's jump right in. So, what is a target date fund? So you may not even know what it is if you're new to investing. Or if you just sort of signed up for your 401k or uh, went to Fidelity or Vanguard or wherever your money is held, um, you may have just gone there, saw that, hey, this is a, a good date for me. Seems like a good investment, and clicked invest, and that's where your money is and you haven't given it much thought so. Let's start with the basics. A target date fund or A TDF is often known as a set it and forget it investment. It's a mutual fund. Uh, now ETFs are, are starting to become, uh, more common as well to cut down on costs, and they're designed around a future date. So typically you're expected retirement date. So if you're retiring in 20 45, 20 65, generally you would pick, uh, one of those dates that are getting close to a day that you desire to retire. So, uh, these funds automatically adjust their mix of stocks and bonds over time becoming more conservative. So switching or shifting from more stocks to more bonds as the target year approaches. And so in, in other words, targeting funds act as an autopilot, a professional manager, um, most all the big custodians have, uh, their kind of. Mix or individual funds that they manage to make up these target day funds. So IE, BlackRock, fidelity, Vanguard, they all kind of have their own target day funds. Um. And so, uh, they create these, and again, as time goes by, the allocation, uh, gradually changes from stocks, uh, to bonds. And so it sounds great for many investors. It is truly convenient. And as you're starting out, for new investors, also very convenient if you're not, uh, familiar with what. Uh, stocks and bonds and mutual funds and ETFs are, it can be really convenient to go, okay, I'm gonna retire at this date. This one, this particular fund is the closest one. I'm gonna pick that. And so, in fact, uh, target date funds have exploded, uh, in popularity by 2023 roughly. Uh, 64% of all new 401k contributions, uh, will be or were flowing into, uh, target date funds. And so, um, that is up from 59% in 2022. So thanks to, uh, employers I. Often using them as a default option. So that's where you have probably seen target dates Before you go sign up for a new job, you get a new job, uh, and you'll see, uh, probably 15 to 20 different target date funds ranging from five years from now. All the way until probably 20 to 30 years from now, right? And five year increments. And so what's the appeal Target date funds offer instant diversification, holding US stocks, international stocks, bonds, uh, et cetera, all in one fund. It requires virtually no on ongoing to decision making from you. Uh, and if someone who doesn't enjoy. Managing investments or rebalancing or checking it quite often, uh, or simply just doesn't have the time to do so. These target date funds can be a godsend. And so, uh, it's like hiring a, uh, robo pilot or RoboAdvisor that keeps your portfolio. Uh, balance according to the preset guide path, right? Um, as long as you can estimate your retirement timeline and pick the fund with the closest year to that, then. You pretty much can leave it on autopilot. Now, there's some upsides and downsides that we'll talk about here in just a second, but generally it's fairly automatic. But here's a key question, is a one size fits all approach, right? For you, especially if you're high income earners. Uh, a high income earner, your situation may be a bit more complex than what this target date fund can fit. So to answer that, let's unpack both the pros and the cons of target date funds. Then we'll do the same thing for the custom a allocation here in just a second. So pros of target date funds, which we kind of touched on here, uh, just a minute ago. Target date funds have some big advantages, particularly, uh, if you're busy and you don't have time or just don't want to manage your investments on a more regular basis, uh, this can be a good thing, right? So it gives you simplicity, it gives you comp, uh, convenience. And so, uh, the foremost benefit is ease with a single fund, you are broadly diversified over. US stocks, international stocks, bonds, all different types of asset classes. Uh, you don't have to worry about rebalancing. And then as you get, uh, closer to that target date, you don't have to worry about should I be more conservative or not? It's going to do all of that for you. So as one financial expert put targeting fund, uh, takes asset allocation and rebalancing. Wholly out of the investor's hands, you're kind of offloading that to a professional manager. So, uh, like I said just a second ago, uh, the next pro would be automatic rebalancing and glide path. What is glide path? Uh, well, life is busy and markets can be volatile. Target date funds continuously rebalance and your mix of, uh, stocks and bonds, and gradually dial that risk down as you approach your target date. So for example, in your thirties, forties, thirties and forties, a 2020. Uh, 2055 fund might keep 90% of stocks for growth, but as you near age 65 or year 2065, it might shift to 50% stocks, 50% bonds to help, uh, lessen that volatility and preserve capital. Uh, all, all this happens without, uh, you lifting a finger. You don't have to worry about it. Defund itself is going to. Uh, do all of this work. So, uh, the investment is on autopilot, and that's really kind of the pro, the big pro, uh, the next pro would be that, uh, again, diversification. Especially if you're starting out, you don't have a lot of money to spread out, uh, over, uh, multiple funds and things of that nature. So adding, uh, or contributing to a target day fund gives you that instant diversification so that, uh. Baskets of other fund. So basically it's a basket of a fund to funds is what we call it, right? So you're buying one mutual fund, but in that mutual fund you may be invested in multiple mutual funds. Again, some large cap uh, companies, so large companies, small companies, uh, mid-size companies, international companies. So you're getting multiple asset classes, uh, different sectors. So whether that be tech, financial, healthcare, uh, all in one fund. You don't have to worry about, uh, trying to do that on your own. Uh, and then one of the most underrated benefits, uh, that I see with Target eight funds is the behavioral aspect of it. Um, it's again, very underrated. Uh. Behavior is going to be the biggest downfall of your rate of return over time, your personal rate of return. So pulling out like in a, uh, the last eight to 10 weeks of the market. I mean, if you're pulling out of your stocks, if you're selling the cash and things of that nature, uh, that's something that you, you don't want to do. So I. Uh, these will let your, um, these funds, again, because they're so broadly diversified, they're likely going to mitigate some of that volatility over time. Um, and what we have seen is people won't sell out as. Uh, quite frequent in volatile markets like we've seen, uh, over the last 10 to eight weeks. And so target date fund investors tend to trade less and panic less. Vanguard found that people, uh, invested in target date funds are four to five times less likely to make trades or tinker with their accounts, um, over people with, um. Uh, more custom allocation. So in practice this means target date funds often avoid bad habits like, uh, market timing, chasing hot stocks, things of that nature. Uh, the set it and forget it nature, uh, can be, uh, a good thing and it teaches you that discipline to just, Hey, every paycheck I'm gonna put X amount in here. And over time, uh, I've achieve a better rate of return than trying to chase, uh, some other return through hot stocks or market timing. Now, uh, one other, uh, pro that we'll just touch on here, um, again, you'll get the professional management. And generally most people are picking funds like ETFs and, um, mutual funds inside of their 4 0 1 Ks more specifically. So they're gonna get that professional management. Um, and these target date funds also have low minimum. So, uh, again, in retirement type accounts, 4 0 1 Ks, uh, 4 0 3 bs, things of that nature. Uh, you're gonna have that professional management. Um, and then outside of, uh, in retirement accounts, in brokerage accounts, things of that nature, you are likely gonna have the opportunity to invest in, in individual holdings. So Google, Amazon, apple, whatever the case may be, right? Um, and so if you're unsure on what stocks to pick or bonds to pick, uh, picking these target a funds can give you that professional management and not have to worry about. Uh, well, what, what stock or bond should I be buying? So in summary, targeting funds, uh, shine with their ease, their broad, uh, diversification and their hands-off management. Uh, again, the biggest perk here is for your ease, and the most underrated perk I find is that it makes it, um. Much easier just to stay invested and kind of build those investing habits, especially early on in your investing career. Now, what are some of the drawbacks to target date funds? While target date funds offer that simplicity, they often, or they also have an inherent limitation. Two, uh, potential drawbacks, particularly high income earners who might need more, uh, than an average approach. And there's a couple things, uh, that we'll talk about here. So one size fits all approach. This is a big one or a downside in my uh, opinion because, uh, if you are a high income earner and you are, uh, accumulating assets very quickly, uh, you may have certain things about your portfolio, whether that be concentration risk. Or getting to the point where you need some tax, uh, management, uh, in certain types of accounts and things of that nature, where this one size fits all approach just won't serve you, as well as creating some sort of, uh, custom allocation so it doesn't count for your personal, uh. Circumstances. So that target date is the same target date for anyone that invests in it. So anyone born around 1980 might get slotted into a 2045 fund, but obviously not everyone will have the same net worth risk tolerance, retirement plans, uh, anything. So if you're a surgeon with a pension on, on the side on. So if you're a surgeon with a pension on the side or an attorney planning for to work part-time in your late sixties, or conversely you're a tech professional aiming to retire at 55, all of these situations are gonna be a little bit different. Um, and so a single glide path or a single uh, objective inside of your investments can't perfectly suit all of these scenarios. So as a financial planner. Uh, target date funds base their strategy solely on a particular date and not, uh, for the individual's particular investment need. And so this is where the target date can fall short. Um, the next thing is kind of, uh, to piggyback off of what I've just talked about, and that is lack of, uh, customization or flexibility, right? Because of these funds. Uh, because the fund does everything automatically, you have very little control. If you want more large cap or more international, you can't easily tweak these allocations. You would've to sell out of that fund and go get a different fund, right? And so, uh, if your situation changes or you have a different market outlook, your risk tolerant changes. Uh, you wanna hold a bit more cash or include real estate or some out want to, uh, uh, meet your allocation for some outside holdings that you have. Maybe you have a bunch of Google or Apple because you got in early or maybe used to work there and you have a lot of employer stock. You can't customize these target date funds to fit those. Those needs. Right? And so you're kind of stuck. And so that's a downside. Um, let's see next. So the, the biggest thing I don't like about, uh, target a funds outside of retirement accounts would be their tax inefficiency, right? So this is critical. Uh, con for high income earners. So if you're a high income earner and you have, if you started on a, a brokerage account at Fidelity or Vanguard or wherever, uh, and you selected a target date fund, uh, and this is not in a retirement account, then this is generally not ideal for, uh, tax management over time. And if you're in a higher tax bracket, you're gonna want to consider what your investments are doing from a tax standpoint. So, uh, target a funds hold a mix of stocks, bonds. Uh, in one fund and the bond portion, uh, produces interest income, regular distributions. Uh, the stock portion can also trigger, uh, capital gains, uh, as the fund rebalances. And it doesn't take in a, in account, uh, your tax situation, right? They're not gonna try to capture losses or anything like that. Um, it, it. In your specific situation. So, uh, in a tax advantaged account, like a 401k, where taxes don't matter, who cares, right? Uh, those distributions aren't taxed yearly, right? They're, they're taxed when you take that distribution. But taxable accounts, you'll get hit with a tax on those funds, dividends and capital gains every year. So you'll lose the ability to strategically locate your acts, uh, your assets for tax efficiency. So, for example, if you were managing a custom portfolio, you might. Put tax efficient stocks, uh, or index funds in your taxable account, which mainly, uh, yield qualified dividends or they're more growth oriented where they're not having dividends or any sort of capital gains unless you sell, um, and keep bonds in your IRAs so that that interest will accrue tax deferred later on down the road. But, uh, if you just hold these target date funds in your taxable account, you're essentially. Uh, mixed less tax friendly assets into your taxable bucket, creating more tax liability potentially than you would want, right? So making, uh, the, the whole fund less tax efficient. So that would be a big drawback. So if you're investing in, in a brokerage account, uh, these target day funds are generally not, uh, what you would want to use. And so what's. Switch over to a custom allocation. So why bother with a custom allocation? There's more work, there's more rebalancing. I gotta watch it. More things of that nature. So when we talk about a custom allocation, I. We simply mean building your own investment portfolio tailored to your goals, rather, that's, uh, rather than buying a pre-packaged solution like a target date fund, instead of one fund doing, doing it all, you choose the percentage of US stocks, international stocks, bonds, whatever that may be to fit your specific situation. Um, then. Uh, or think of it as a bespoke suit versus an off the rack, um, suit, right? So it's a custom portfolio fit to you, so you have specific needs, especially if you're high, younger earner. Uh, depending on your situation, you may need more tax management. You may have a concentrated, uh, publicly traded stock that you want to not trade as much in other accounts and things of that nature. Uh, so. Having a customer approach can help you, uh, in many different ways, even though it may be a bit more work. So, a custom allocation can be as straightforward or as complex as you want. Some high income investors take a three fund approach. So for example, 60% US stock, uh, fund, 20% international stock fund, and a 20%. Index fund, adjusting those percentages as you age or as your goals change. Uh, obviously that's a very, uh, simplistic example. Each individual person's gonna be a little bit different, but, uh, others might take, uh, maybe a more risk, uh. More risk on approach. So a more aggressive approach where they have, uh, more us or more international, less bond exposure. Maybe they add some, uh, real estate investment trust or REITs, maybe they tilt more to small cap versus large cap, or they include municipal bonds in their bond allocation because of their income and they, they want that tax free income. So the point here is you are the driver. Uh, of this particular investment and you decide the asset mix, uh, and adjusting that over time. And you can, um, do that with or without a financial advisor, but also you can do that to tailor. Tax efficiency, uh, risk tolerance. Your, whatever your, uh, investment return needs to be, you can tailor that to help meet that investment return need. So for high, a higher income earner, a custom allocation has a major appeal, and that is personalization. You can, uh, account for all the nuances in your financial life. Whereas with a target a fund, you cannot, so do you have a sizable pension or guaranteed income? Maybe you choose to hold more stocks since you can afford the volatility. Are you worried about volatile markets? Um, do you want to hold a bit more cash, especially like we've seen in the last couple weeks? Um, or do you want to invest in things like alternatives? So, uh, everybody's situation's a little bit different. And so this custom. Allocation can help fit those needs. And so what are some more pros of the custom AL allocation? And that is, uh, personalized asset mix. Again, if you wanna be all stocks, if you want to be more heavy towards small companies or international companies or tech companies or financials, or you want to get away from some of those things because you're already heavily invested elsewhere, uh, you can customize this particular, uh. Portfolio. The other thing is that you can incorporate all accounts. So you can look at this with a holistic view, and that's one of the things that a financial advisor can be really good at, is saying, okay, you have a 401k, you have a 4 0 3 B, you have a pension, you have a brokerage account at this institution or that institution. You have these assets with large gains and losses and. Uh, you're carrying forward losses that you've had for a, a couple of years now. So how do we take all of this into account and build a portfolio from a 30,000 foot view, and where do we put these particular assets and we call it asset location so that we can maximize both your return but also maximize the tax efficiency within that. So this is what the, uh. Custom allocation is going to do right. The next thing is that the cost efficiency, right? So by building your own portfolio, you can choose, uh, low cost ETFs. You don't necessarily have to get into a mutual fund. So like in your 401k, you may only have the ability to, uh, do a target date fund. That's a mutual fund that maybe has a higher expense ratio or something. Uh, if you're in a brokerage account and you're. Building a custom allocation, you would have the opportunity to choose individual holdings, ETFs, mutual funds. And so you can kinda choose where you want to particularly, uh, save on costs, whether that be, uh, in a specific ETF or, or what have you. So those often result in very low weighted, um. Averages ETFs do. For instance, you might pay four basis points or 0.04% in a total US stock fund. Um, whereas a mutual fund may be, uh, 25 basis points or a quarter percent to half a percent, or even poten, potentially more. I've seen, uh, up to one, 1.5% advisors charge another 1.5% on top of that. So you can get kind of crazy, but with this custom allocation, you can, uh. Pick your funds and hopefully be a little bit more cost efficient and tax efficient, right? So, uh, engagement, the last pro here, engagement and understanding. Some people, uh, prefer simplicity, uh, with their investments. Um, as high income earners, you might want to be more engaged, uh, know where your money is, how it's invested, uh, building a custom allocation. Uh, can increase your financial literacy, understand what your investments are doing, give you a deeper understanding so you have a grasp of the market and, and when you, when you're gonna reach your goals and, and retirement and buying homes and doing all the things that you want to do. Uh, the custom allocation, again, this is kind of an underrated probe, but it's gonna give you a more deeper understanding'cause it takes a little bit more, uh, time and effort and understanding to, to do this and. By that you're gonna learn more things, right? So it can be rewarding to see the strategy play out exactly how you want it to. Um, and if you work with a financial advisor, they can collaborate with you and help you craft that portfolio, uh, where maybe your expertise, uh. Isn't quite there or your time or your want to, isn't there. Um, they can help you build that, um, but still give you the efficiency that you can get from that custom allocation, uh, versus the target date fund. So what are some cons, right? Uh, we talked about a little bit, time and effort, obviously building out a portfolio. Uh. Of different mutual funds or ETFs or stocks is gonna take a lot more time than going, Hey, uh, I'm retiring at 2020 or 2045 or 2055, and picking that, uh, target aid fund, obviously more time and effort, you're gonna have to monitor, monitor your investments on a period basis, includes rebalancing, uh, looking for tax loss, harvesting in your brokerage accounts, things of that nature. So there's a lot more time and effort you may have to. Uh, do more research and, and all of these things, right? And so that's going to take time away from other things. Maybe that be work, family, uh, other hobbies, things of that nature. So if it's not something you want to do, then you may have to hire that out. If you fill that, the value of having a custom allocation, uh, would benefit you more than using, uh, something more like a target date, fund, discipline and emotion, right? It's easy to create a plan. Do all of this work, implement it, and then the first sign of, uh, volatile Market or something change. You get out of it and you sell out and you go back to cash. And then when do you, when do you get back in? Right. And look at the last eight to 10 weeks. Um, if you sold out and you're sitting in cash right now, when do you get back in? Right? Yep. It doesn't feel good to go down 20% or 15% in a three or four day period. Um, but, but again, if you've sold out again, when do you get back in? And so, uh, it's harder to have that discipline if you're monitoring it and building a custom allocation and, uh, creating rules around that and following through on those rules and, and, and all of those sorts of things. So. Um, the behavior side of things does get a little bit harder. And then obviously the required knowledge, right? Again, it's gonna take more time, understanding, uh, the, uh, based knowledge of investments and how those work and how they're taxed, and what are the tax rules and how long do I hold them to get a short term capital gain versus the long term capital gain, and when can I sell for a loss and get back into that same investment without having. Uh, that loss canceled out from what's called a wash sale rule. All of those different things, uh, the, the, the knowhow is gonna, again, take more time. And, um, because, uh, if you're doing this on your own, there are more potential for mistakes. And so, uh, obviously there's, there's cons to this. There's pros to custom allocations, just like there's pros and cons, uh, to that target date fund. And so, um. What I want to do here is just recap, right? So are you an in high income earner? What are some things that you should be thinking about, uh, to help you decide should I be using a target date fund or should I be using a more custom allocation for myself? One, I would ask yourself, how early am I in my investing career? Am I just out of medical school and I'm just starting investing. I don't even have$10,000 in my 401k or 4 0 3 B, um, or am I an attending physician that have, has been investing for five or 10 years and I have, uh, am I, and I'm starting to build wealth. And so, uh, and any of those scenarios, uh, or, or in each of those scenarios, there's gonna be a different kind of decision making factor if I'm just starting out. And I don't know a lot about investing and I'm more worried about building my prac, my medical practice or uh, getting through residency or whatever that case may be. A target day fund may be the best idea so that I can at least get some money in the market. I don't have to worry about, uh, picking funds and things of that nature. I can just look at, okay, here's a relatively. Uh, close timeline to when I want to retire or use this money and I'm gonna pick that target a fund, I'm gonna put my 10, 15, 20%, whatever it is, into my 4 0 3 B each paycheck, and I'm just gonna let it ride. Right? And then if you're on the side where you've been investing for a while in those, dollar amounts, or getting to a point where. Um, when these market swings, it's not just a, a few hundred dollars that I lose or gain, it's thousands and thousands of dollars, and it's starting to make me question like, is this going to delay my retirement or me slowing down or, any other financial goals that I have? Then you want to think about maybe talking to a professional or doing more research and going, okay, maybe I need to build a custom. allocation for this particular account or be for my entire, portfolio, so that I can feel more confident that I'm going to reach my goals. If you have a brokerage account, I would say almost, not, almost never, but likely you're not gonna want to use a target date fund, especially if it's mutual funds. And you're a high income earner. If you're in one of those higher tax brackets, call it 24% or higher, you're going to want to start looking at, more custom allocation of maybe ETFs, because of the tax efficiency, and cost to be honest with you. those types of things you want to start to consider, as you move forward, in your investing world. And again, you're gonna want to consider. your portfolio as a whole, right? So if you have multiple accounts, let's say a 401k, a brokerage account, IRAs, and maybe your spouse has a few things as well. You're gonna want to consider that, from a couple, couple different levels. One as like a 30,000 foot view, what's our entire, portfolio look like? So if you have a million dollars of investible assets. What does that million dollars look like and where are those assets laid out and are they efficient from a tax standpoint? do I have my growth? Type investments in the right spot. Do I have my income producing investments in the correct spot? Where should I have those? Right? And then from there, start diving down. Okay, well, am am I 401k? Am I being aggressive enough or am I not conservative enough'cause I'm getting closer to retirement? All those sorts of things. Right. And deciding. Okay. Well now I have, I've gotten to such a point where. The decisions I'm making, the gravity of them is becoming too much for me to handle. and then that point, okay, maybe I go hire somebody, go hire a financial advisor, hire someone like me at Palm Valley Wealth Management, And some of the common reasons I see people making that decision to hire somebody is they look at their tax return and they say, oh man, that was a lot of taxes due to my investments. Or, oh, the market just took a 20% downturn and I didn't think I would participate in all of that, and I'm. Gearing up for retirement in five or 10 years, uh, things like that. And so if those things are keeping you up at night or you just don't have a desire to want to try to figure those things out or learn those, um, hiring someone would probably be the best idea. And so, uh, this one was longwinded. I hope that, uh, it was helpful to, um, learn what a target date fund is versus a. Custom allocation, uh, when you should think about using them, what the pros, what the cons are, um, to help you in your financial journey. And again, if you feel that you need help, if you feel under overwhelmed of, of how to start working on these types of things or moving to that next level where you want to start building a custom allocation, uh, you can always go to my website, palm Valley wm.com. Uh, you can sign up for a free call. We can talk about your situation and see if we are a good fit for you. But as always, if you like this podcast, go ahead and leave a five star review on your favorite podcasting app and share this with a friend, and we will see you in the next one. This podcast is for educational purposes only. It is not meant to be financial planning or investment advice. Do not make decisions solely based on this podcast alone. Please seek a financial, investment or legal professional when considering your own situation.