target-date funds were invented by donald luskin and larry tint of wells fargo investment advisors (later barclays global investors), and first introduced in the early 1990s by bgi. their popularity in the us increased significantly in recent years due in part to the auto-enrollment legislation pension protection act of 2006 that created the need for safe-harbor type qualifying default investment alternatives, such as target-date funds, for 401(k) savings plans. with the uk enacting auto-enrollment legislation in 2012, target-date funds are used by nest national employment savings trust, and are expected to become increasingly popular as their design should satisfy the dwp's eligible default fund criteria.