Glide Path
Also called: glidepath, de-risking path
A glide path is the pre-set schedule by which a portfolio shifts from growth assets to defensive ones as a goal approaches. Target-date funds are the packaged version. The logic is that a market crash matters far more the year before you need the money than thirty years before, so risk should fall as the horizon shortens. Designs differ on whether the path stops at the target date ('to' retirement) or keeps shifting for decades after it ('through').