"The three largest ... 'off the shelf' Target Date Funds (OTDFs) intended for investors with a 10-20 year investment timeframe maintain radical levels of pubic equity exposure -- much higher than pension funds, which are, generally and unlike an investor's retirement plan account, intended to operate perpetually.... As a result of extreme public equity exposure, the largest OTDFs provide little 'downside protection' to investors: they behave mostly like 100% equity investments.... The inability of investors to access alternative investments has resulted in acute dependence on public equities and to lop-sided asset allocations that would surely be rejected by defined benefit pension funds."