Why I (Still) Like All-in-One Mutual Funds

A reader writes in, asking:

“You haven’t written about how you feel about the LifeStrategy funds in light of current market events. Are you still using one? Are you happy with it?”

The short answer is that:

• Yes, we’re still using the Vanguard LifeStrategy Growth Fund for all of our retirement savings,
• Yes, we’re still super happy with it, and
• Neither my investment strategy nor investment tactics change as a result of market conditions, so that’s not really playing a role (in either direction) regarding my level of satisfaction.

All-in-One Funds Are Low-Stress, Low-Maintenance

One of the primary reasons I’ve enjoyed using the LifeStrategy fund is that it is a very low-hassle way to invest. When I sign into the Vanguard site to make a contribution, I don’t have to spend any time figuring out how much to buy (or sell) of each fund in order to maintain our desired overall allocation across accounts. Nor am I spending any time or energy considering adjustments to our asset allocation. All I’m doing is entering the amount of the contribution I want to make, confirming the transaction, and signing out.

If you use an all-in-one fund, you will want to make a point of staying informed about changes made to the fund (for example, Vanguard recently increased the international allocations in their all-in-one funds), because it’s possible that the fund company could change the underlying allocation in such a way that it’s no longer appropriate for your needs. But, at least with Vanguard, such changes don’t happen especially often, so the amount of work (and thought) involved is minimal.

All-in-One Funds Help Reduce the Likelihood of Mistakes

A second reason I like using an all-in-one fund is that it reduces the likelihood that I’ll tinker with our portfolio in a way that will ultimately be detrimental to performance.

Morningstar research has consistently shown that investors tend to underperform the funds that they use, because they switch between funds at the wrong times. (This is generally the result of buying immediately after a period of good performance and selling after a period of poor performance.) Interestingly, in research from earlier this year*, Morningstar found that investors in target-date funds have actually had better performance than the funds themselves over the 10-year period ending 12/31/2014.

But They’re Not for Everyone

Despite the benefits mentioned above, all-in-one funds have their limitations. Last time I gave an update on using the LifeStrategy fund, I wrote the following, which I still think is true.

All-in-one funds are not a perfect fit for everybody. There are plenty of reasons why any given investor might be better off taking the DIY-allocation approach. For example:

• The fund-of-funds structure is tax-inefficient, which is relevant if you have assets in a taxable brokerage account.
• Some people will not be able to find an all-in-one fund with an asset allocation that suits their needs (e.g., because they need to underweight U.S. stocks in their IRA in order to make up for the fact that they’re overweighting U.S. stocks in their 401(k) because their retirement plan’s only decent choice is a U.S. stock fund).
• Some people will prefer to implement a strategy that “tilts” the portfolio in some way (most commonly toward small-cap value stocks or REITs).
• Some people don’t mind the modest work involved in managing a portfolio, are completely confident they will not do any detrimental tinkering, and want to take advantage of the slightly lower costs of individual index funds or ETFs.

*A free Morningstar account is required to view the article.