Many Americans save for retirement by contributing to an IRA, 401(k), or other investment account. But, how many of those savers understand what assets are in their accounts?

Prudent long-term planning and careful risk management includes understanding the characteristics of the assets you own. Target-date funds, lifecycle funds, and other age-based funds attempt to simplify retirement planning. However, since the fund names alone say nothing about the underlying assets, investors need to understand each fund’s holdings. This article illustrates a process to find the underlying holdings of a popular Vanguard target-date fund. Since the process applies to funds generally, use it to help inform your own research.