BlackRock LifePath Smart Beta 2050 Fund

C000050782 Fund Overview

BlackRock LifePath Smart Beta 2050 Fund is a US mutual fund managed by BlackRock Funds II, categorised as Target Date / Glide Path Allocation. ABC INVEST provides holdings, performance, costs, cashflows, risk data, prospectus documents and SEC filings, sourced from SEC filings.

• Type: US mutual fund
• Manager: BlackRock Funds II
• Category: Target Date / Glide Path Allocation
• Assets under management: $11.58M
• SEC CIK: 0001398078
• SEC series ID: S000018371
• Share class ID: C000050782

C000050782 Investment Objective and Strategy

BlackRock LifePath Smart Beta 2050 Fund describes its objective and strategy as follows, from its latest prospectus filed with the SEC by BlackRock Funds II.

Investment objective

The investment objective of BlackRock LifePath ® Smart Beta 2050 Fund (the “2050 Fund” or the “Fund”) is to seek to provide for retirement outcomes based on quantitatively measured risk. In pursuit of this objective, the Fund will be broadly diversified across global asset classes, with asset allocations becoming more conservative over time.

Principal investment strategy

In pursuit of its investment objective, the Fund, which is a fund of funds, allocates and reallocates its assets among a combination of equity, fixed income and money market funds (the underlying funds) in proportions based on its own comprehensive investment strategy. Under normal circumstances, the Fund intends to invest primarily in affiliated open-end funds and affiliated exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The Fund intends to invest a significant portion of its assets in affiliated underlying funds that follow factor-based investment strategies. Most of such factor-based underlying funds seek to track the performance of alternatively weighted indices that are constructed using methodologies that rely on equal weighting of underlying component stocks or measure factors such as value, quality, momentum, or volatility, rather than market-cap weighting.

These methodologies are sometimes referred to as Smart Beta. In addition, the Fund may invest in other factor-based underlying funds that are actively managed pursuant to investment strategies that target intuitive investment factors such as value, quality, momentum, or volatility. The Fund is designed for investors expecting to retire or to begin withdrawing assets around the year 2050. The Fund seeks to provide for retirement outcomes based on quantitatively measured risk. BlackRock employs a multidimensional approach to assess risk for the Fund and to determine the Funds allocation across asset classes. As part of this multidimensional approach, BlackRock aims to quantify risk using proprietary risk measurement tools that, among other things, analyze historical and forward-looking securities market data, including risk, asset class correlations, and expected returns.

Certain underlying funds may invest in real estate investment trusts (REITs), foreign securities, emerging market securities, below investment-grade bonds and derivative securities or instruments, such as options and futures, the value of which is derived from another security, a commodity, a currency or an index. Under normal circumstances, the asset allocation will change over time according to a predetermined glide path as the Fund approaches its target date. The glide path below represents the shifting of asset classes over time. As the glide path shows, the Funds asset allocation becomes more conservative prior to retirement as time elapses. This reflects the need for reduced investment risks as retirement approaches and the need for lower volatility of the Fund, which may be a primary source of income after retirement.

The LifePath Smart Beta 2050 Fund is one of a group of funds referred to as the LifePath Smart Beta Funds, each of which seeks to provide for retirement outcomes based on quantitatively measured risk that investors on average may be willing to accept given a particular time horizon. The following chart illustrates the glide path the target allocation among asset classes as the LifePath Smart Beta Funds approach their target dates: The following table lists the years until retirement and the target allocation among asset classes for each of the LifePath Smart Beta Funds as set out in the above chart: Name of Fund Years Until Retirement Equity Funds (includes REITs) Fixed-Income Funds BlackRock LifePath Smart Beta 2060 Fund 42 99 % 1 % BlackRock LifePath Smart Beta 2055 Fund 37 99 % 1 % BlackRock LifePath Smart Beta 2050 Fund 32 99 % 1 % BlackRock LifePath Smart Beta 2045 Fund 27 96 % 4 % BlackRock LifePath Smart Beta 2040 Fund 22 90 % 10 % BlackRock LifePath Smart Beta 2035 Fund 17 80 % 20 % BlackRock LifePath Smart Beta 2030 Fund 12 70 % 30 % BlackRock LifePath Smart Beta 2025 Fund 7 59 % 41 % BlackRock LifePath Smart Beta 2020 Fund 2 47 % 53 % BlackRock LifePath Smart Beta Retirement Fund 0 40 % 60 % The asset allocation targets are established by the portfolio managers.

The investment team, including the portfolio managers, meets regularly to assess market conditions, review the asset allocation targets of the Fund, and determine whether any changes are required to enable the Fund to achieve its investment objective. Although the asset allocation targets listed for the glide path are general, long-term targets, BlackRock may periodically adjust the proportion of equity funds and fixed income funds in the Fund based on an assessment of the current market conditions, the potential contribution of each asset class to the expected risk and return characteristics of the Fund, reallocations of Fund composition to reflect intra-year movement along the glide path and other factors. In addition, BlackRock may determine that, in connection with the Funds investment in certain of the factor-based underlying funds, adjustments to the equity or fixed income allocations in excess of the asset allocation target percentages listed in the glide path may be appropriate to better align the risk characteristics of the Fund with the glide path.

In general, the adjustments will be limited to +/- 10% relative to the target allocations. However, BlackRock may determine that a greater degree of variation is warranted to protect the Fund or achieve its investment objective. BlackRocks second step in the structuring of the Fund is the selection of the underlying funds. Factors such as fund classifications, historical risk and performance, and the relationship to other underlying funds in the Fund are considered when selecting underlying funds. The specific underlying funds selected for the Fund are determined at BlackRocks discretion and may change as deemed appropriate to allow the Fund to meet its investment objective. See Description of Underlying Funds for a list of the underlying funds, their classification into equity or fixed income funds and a brief description of their investment objectives and primary investment strategies.

Within the prescribed percentage allocations to equity and fixed income funds, BlackRock seeks to diversify the Fund. The equity allocation may be further diversified by style factors, market capitalization, region (including domestic and international (including emerging market) funds), or other factors. The fixed income allocation may be further diversified by sector (including government, corporate, agency, and other sectors), duration (a calculation of the average life of a bond which measures its price risk), credit quality (including non-investment grade debt or junk bonds), geographic location (including U.S. and foreign-issued securities), or other factors. The percentage allocation to the various styles of equity and fixed income are determined at the discretion of the investment team and can be changed to reflect the current market environment.

Investments in underlying funds will be allocated towards the equity and fixed income percentages based on their classification. The Fund may also seek asset allocation to equity and fixed income by investing in funds that invest in a mix of equity and fixed income instruments (multi-asset funds). Investments in multi-asset funds will be allocated towards the equity and fixed income percentages listed for the glide path based on the multi-asset funds underlying investments in equity and fixed income instruments. At the time the Fund reaches its target retirement date in 2050, the asset allocation of the Fund is expected to be approximately 40% in underlying funds that invest in equity and 60% in underlying funds that invest in fixed income, and the target allocation may shift over time depending on market conditions.

On approximately the target retirement date of the Fund, the Board of Trustees of the Trust (the Board) may evaluate alternatives available to the Fund. These alternatives may include a merger into another BlackRock fund (such as the BlackRock LifePath Smart Beta Retirement Fund) subject to the Board determining, among other things, that it would be in the best interest of the Fund. Such a merger may or may not require shareholder approval. Finally, the Board may instead cause the Fund to be liquidated. The Fund may, when consistent with its investment goal, buy or sell options or futures, or enter into total return swaps and foreign currency transactions (collectively, commonly known as derivatives). The Fund may seek to obtain market exposure to the securities in which it primarily invests by entering into a series of purchase and sale contracts or by using other investment techniques (such as reverse repurchase agreements or dollar rolls).

The Fund may use derivatives as a substitute for taking a position in an underlying fund and/or as part of a strategy to reduce exposure to certain risks. The Fund may also use derivatives to seek to enhance returns, in which case their use may involve leveraging risk. Derivatives that are used as a substitute for taking a position in an underlying fund, to reduce exposure to risks (other than duration or currency risk) or to seek to enhance returns will increase or decrease the Funds equity or fixed income allocations for purposes of the glide path by the notional amount of such derivatives. Derivatives that are used to manage duration or hedge currency risk will not be allocated to the Funds equity or fixed income allocations for purposes of the glide path.

C000050782 Costs and Fees

C000050782 costs about $58 per $10,000 invested per year in fund expenses.

• Net expense ratio: 0.58%
• Gross expense ratio: 2.04%
• Portfolio turnover: 121%
• Brokerage commissions: 5.45 bps of average net assets (SEC N-CEN)

C000050782 Cashflows

Over the 12 months to 2020-04, BlackRock LifePath Smart Beta 2050 Fund had net inflows of $10.30M, from monthly SEC N-PORT filings.

C000050782 Debt Constituents

No individual debt constituents are reported in BlackRock LifePath Smart Beta 2050 Fund's latest SEC N-PORT filing.

C000050782 Prospectus and SEC Filings

Official BlackRock LifePath Smart Beta 2050 Fund filings on SEC EDGAR — prospectus, portfolio holdings and annual reports.

• Prospectus (485BPOS) — filed 2020-03-18
• Prospectus (485BPOS) — filed 2019-03-19
• Prospectus (485BPOS) — filed 2018-03-20
• Portfolio holdings (N-PORT) — filed 2020-06-24
• Portfolio holdings (N-PORT) — filed 2020-03-27
• Portfolio holdings (N-PORT) — filed 2019-12-23
• Annual census (N-CEN) — filed 2020-01-10
• Annual census (N-CEN) — filed 2019-01-14

Related Funds

Other Target Date / Glide Path Allocation funds tracked on ABC INVEST:

• Vanguard Target Retirement 2035 Fund (VTTHX)
• Vanguard Target Retirement 2045 Fund (VTIVX)
• Vanguard Target Retirement 2040 Fund (VFORX)
• Vanguard Target Retirement 2030 Fund (VTHRX)
• Vanguard Target Retirement 2050 Fund (VFIFX)

Data Sources

ABC INVEST compiles this page from public filings made to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) through EDGAR: portfolio holdings and monthly cashflows from Form N-PORT, expenses and returns from fund prospectuses (Form 485BPOS) and the SEC DERA Risk/Return Summary data sets, annual data from Form N-CEN, and shareholder reports from Form N-CSR.