The issue is that the OP seems to be trying to build up a taxable account over time. Sure, $1,000 is a very small amount, but this is just the start. Once you get the account balance up to $100k or $200k you might regret putting money into a fund where you're paying tax on non-qualified dividends. So the OP can either invest $1,000 in the Target Retirement fund now, keep investing new money into that fund, and be paying that extra tax from now until retirement when it's cheaper to make the exchange, or they can just wait a month until they have enough money to get started with a more tax-efficient fund.