Just go with life-cycle fund for 401k?

[JordanIB]

If my 401K offers life-cycle funds, is it wise to just throw everything into that and take out all the thinking, rather than try to allocate on my own based on my needs?

In additional to life-cycle funds (2040 would be my pick), my plan offers:
# SSgA Principal Accumulation Return Fund
# PIMCO Total Return Admin. Fund
# Legg Mason Partners Fundamental Value A Fund
# SSgA S&P 500 Index Fund
# Ariel Appreciation Fund
# Legg Mason Partners Large Cap Growth A Fund
# Legg Mason Partners Aggressive Growth A Fund
# Fidelity Diversified International Fund

So do I just go with the 2040 and worry about other things in my life? Or should I take advantage of the other funds?

The 2040 fund allocations are:

45% S&P 500 Index
25% Daily MSCI EAFE Index
10% S&P MidCap 400
10% Russell 2000
10% Lehman US Long Govt Index

The only red flag I see is that it seems a little heavy on large-cap, which could be counterbalanced elsewhere in my portfolio.

Thoughts?

[growlers]

Yeah, I have my entire life savings in a Schwab 2040 target retirement fund. Low fees, and it automatically stays diversified and changes as you get closer to retirement.
I just don't think I could do better on my own.....

[MatthewRyan]

Thats a very, very good choice. You're lucky to have it in your 401k because it rebalances for you (thus set it and forget it) and the fund also uses all index funds with low expense ratios.

[growlers]

Thanks for the thoughts. I did start an etrade "playing around" account to sorta learn a little, but I am keeping it less than 10% of my overall savings.
I think those targeted retirement funds are pretty awesome if you want to be hands off like myself.