Retirement accounts can just as easily invest in Vanguard funds, side-stepping the 'high management fees' issue of target-date funds. Picking is more dangerous when you're playing to retire vs. playing to build wealth. Further, your asset mix should become more and more conservative over time.
The typical guidance is to shift towards bonds and short-term instruments in a fund or ETF over time. The problem with that is that the yields have been poor for many years.
A nominally safe investment like the Vanguard Short Term Gov Bond ETF is down in real and nominal terms over the last decade.
