Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Is T. Rowe Price Retirement Balanced (TRRIX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

Read MoreHide Full Article

If you're looking for an Allocation Balanced fund category, then a potential option is T. Rowe Price Retirement Balanced (TRRIX - Free Report) . TRRIX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

TRRIX is one of many Zacks' Allocation Balanced mutual funds to pick from. Allocation Balanced funds seek to invest in a balance of asset types, like stocks, bonds, and cash, though including precious metals or commodities is not unusual; these funds are mostly categorized by their respective asset allocation. Investors utilize Allocation Balanced funds as a way to get a good start with diversified mutual funds, as well as for core holdings in a portfolio of funds.

History of Fund/Manager

TRRIX is a part of the T. Rowe Price family of funds, a company based out of Baltimore, MD. The T. Rowe Price Retirement Balanced made its debut in September of 2002 and TRRIX has managed to accumulate roughly $1.75 billion in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by a team of investment professionals.

Performance

Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. TRRIX has a 5-year annualized total return of 4.8% and is in the middle third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 6.86%, which places it in the middle third during this time-frame.

When looking at a fund's performance, it is also important to note the standard deviation of the returns. The lower the standard deviation, the less volatility the fund experiences. TRRIX's standard deviation over the past three years is 4.73% compared to the category average of -36.2%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 4.97% compared to the category average of 0.1%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

Investors should always remember the downsides to a potential investment, and this segment carries some risks one should be aware of. TRRIX lost 26.38% in the most recent bear market and outperformed its peer group by 35%. This might suggest that the fund is a better choice than its peers during a bear market.

Nevertheless, investors should also note that the fund has a 5-year beta of 0.38, which means it is hypothetically less volatile than the market at large. Alpha is an additional metric to take into consideration, since it represents a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark, which in this case, is the S&P 500. TRRIX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -0.09, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.

Expenses

As competition heats up in the mutual fund market, costs become increasingly important. Compared to its otherwise identical counterpart, a low-cost product will be an outperformer, all other things being equal. Thus, taking a closer look at cost-related metrics is vital for investors. In terms of fees, TRRIX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.51% compared to the category average of -26.38%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, TRRIX is actually more expensive than its peers.

While the minimum initial investment for the product is $2,500, investors should also note that each subsequent investment needs to be at least $100.

Bottom Line

Overall, T. Rowe Price Retirement Balanced ( TRRIX ) has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, average downside risk, and higher fees, T. Rowe Price Retirement Balanced ( TRRIX ) looks like a somewhat average choice for investors right now.

Want even more information about TRRIX? Then go over to Zacks.com and check out our mutual fund comparison tool, and all of the other great features that we have to help you with your mutual fund analysis for additional information. And don't forget, Zacks has all of your needs covered on the equity side too! Make sure to check out Zacks.com for more information on our screening capabilities, Rank, and all our articles as well.


See More Zacks Research for These Tickers


Normally $25 each - click below to receive one report FREE:


T. Rowe Price Retirement Balncd (TRRIX) - free report >>

Published in