J.P. Morgan decided to change its menu because “a growing body of research shows that when participants are presented with complex or too many choices, they are most likely to make no choice at all or an uneducated choice—either of which leaves them inadequately diversified and overexposed to individual investment strategies.”

Core Menu Innovation was designed by J.P. Morgan’s Global Multi Asset Group, which is responsible for the firm’s suite of SmartRetirement Target Date Fund solutions. Each of the three portfolios is built with sophisticated asset allocation incorporating diversification across traditional and extended asset classes.

"CMI draws upon the Global Multi-Asset Group's unified investment approach that influences the group's target-date strategies, which seek to capture attractive returns with lower volatility, increasing the overall probability that participants reach their retirement-income goals," said Anne Lester, portfolio manager for the Global Multi-Asset Group at J.P. Morgan Asset Management. "We continue to believe that target-date funds are a good solution for the vast majority of participants. However, for those participants who elect not to enter target-date funds, we believe CMI provides a better framework than that of the traditional DC plan's core lineup."

J.P. Morgan believes that limiting the range of investment choices in plans will help plan sponsors better meet their fiduciary responsibilities, while contributing to a plan’s overall success in helping participants achieve better retirement incomes.

J.P. Morgan Asset Management is an investment management company that supervises $1.9 trillion in assets and manages $1.3 trillion in assets, as of Sept. 30, 2011.