If you haven’t heard the news—SP Funds, the company best known for its family of Shariah-compliant ETFs (such as SPUS and SPSK), recently introduced halal target date funds.
This is a big deal. For years, the Muslim community in the US has struggled with a significant gap in retirement planning options. The problem was always the same: target date funds, the backbone of most retirement plans, weren’t viable options for Muslims due to the nature of the underlying assets. Finally, there’s a halal alternative.
It’s one of those developments that seems obvious in retrospect but needed time to materialize. Kudos to the SP Funds team for laying the groundwork to make this possible.
The launch includes 3 funds that are available in both investor and institutional share classes. Be sure to check your broker to see if they have both options available. If so, go for the institutional share version because it’s cheaper.
| Symbol | Fund Name | Share Type | Expense Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| SPTAX | SP Funds 2030 Target Date Fund | Investor | 1.05% |
| SPTBX | SP Funds 2040 Target Date Fund | Investor | 1.06% |
| SPTCX | SP Funds 2050 Target Date Fund | Investor | 1.06% |
| SPTMX | SP Funds 2030 Target Date Fund | Institutional | 0.65% |
| SPTNX | SP Funds 2040 Target Date Fund | Institutional | 0.66% |
| SPTOX | SP Funds 2050 Target Date Fund | Institutional | 0.66% |
Islamic finance is still in its early days. There’s a lot more to be done. But moves like this are encouraging. They show that the market is maturing, and that there’s real demand for thoughtful, faith-aligned financial products.