Daisy Maxey devotes the Thursday edition of the Wall Street Journal Fund Track column to the growing interest among large plan sponsors to create customized target-date funds after the poor performance of some target-dates last year.

"Definitely, there are more people interested in it after the returns of 2008," Mark Ruloff, director of asset allocation at Watson Wyatt Worldwide, was quoted as saying.

Customized target-date funds are not unusual for plans that have assets of $1 billion and above, noted Phil Suess, a world-wide partner at Mercer.

At Hewitt Associates, nearly 20 percent of its clients that offer target-date funds have created their own, according to Pam Hess, director of retirement research. Hess estimates that more broadly, the percentage is about 5 percent, but is rising significantly.

Also quoted in the article are David Wray, president of the Profit Sharing/401(k) Council of America; and James Worrell, president of GPS Investment Advisors LLC. 

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