401(k) Fees May Cut 30 Pct From Retirement Balance

[marmar]

401(k) Fees May Cut 30 Pct From Retirement Balance


(ABC News) American workers who don’t think twice about their employer-sponsored 401(k) plans may be surprised to learn that fees can cut their retirement savings by 30 percent over a lifetime.

A household with two people earning the median income of their age group from 25 to 65 will pay an average of $154,794 in 401(k) fees and lost returns, according to a report from progressive, non-partisan public policy research group, Demos, based in New York.

The $154,794 is 30.3 percent of that household’s retirement balance of $509,644 that is lost to fees.



The median 401(k) balance was a scant $23,000 at the end of the first quarter this year among Fidelity Investments’ 11.8 million accounts. ...............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/business/2012/05/401k-fees-may-cut-30-pct-from-retirement-balance/

[FreeJoe]

1. Watch the fees carefully

Our 401K has a couple of dozen different investment options. I spot checked them (they don't give you an easy way to see the fees for everything at one time). The fees ranged from a low of 0.05% to a high of 0.8%. My money is primarily in a fund with fees of 0.07%. I'm pretty happy with that. I've got friends at other companies where the 401K options are terrible and fees are usurious.

[Egalitarian Thug]

2. One of the biggest reasons to dump us into this scam. K&R n/t

[abelenkpe]

3. K&R nt

[Odin2005]

4. 401Ks are the biggest scam in history.

And when many of us get old all of that hard-saved money will end up in the hands of nursing homes. "Saving for retirement" is BS.

[B Calm]

5. 401 K's are just a Wall Street Cash Cow

to be milked and harvested and to funnel the working class hard earned money into the hands of the 1%.

[librechik]

6. my company quit matching contributions years ago

I am resigned to being quite poverty stricken in me old age--been there before