I've been thinking about the question of a less than desirable 401k plan for quite awhile. After reading lots of articles on the Web that cover the topic I've stumbled upon this brief and well-written post by Mike Piper. Being a CPA the author presents a logical set-by-step process of thinking whic...

401k plans almost always waive the front end load by using a different share class than retail A shares. They also layer on additional fees to compensate the brokers [if any] and the administrator who takes on duties such as filing annual form 5500 returns, record keeping, etc. That makes sense. Th...

Holy crap! The 2040 Target Date fund has a 5.75% up-front sales charge AND a 0.76% expense ratio?  Am I reading that correctly? I think he has a different share class, one with higher ER but without a front-end load.  This summary prospectus shows the dizzying array of possible share classes: https...

Holy crap! The 2040 Target Date fund has a 5.75% up-front sales charge AND a 0.76% expense ratio?  Am I reading that correctly? 5-year comparison with Vanguard's 2040 fund: http://i.imgur.com/aGFqOi9.jpg Vanguard's expense ratio is 0.18%.  I think I know who is buying the yachts. Thanks for this! I...

How about lobbying for a better 401K. And I agree with the suggestion to see if they have a brokerage window. If they do, then problem solved. Hey there number5858 -- you'll see earlier in the thread that I did ask about the brokerage window, and they don't have one. I have lobbied for a better 401...

I'm sure the high ERs go toward funding the marketers and psychologists who come up with the fund names. Jeez, who wouldn't want to invest in the Income Fund of America or The New Economy Fund ? :P Sad thing is that the ERs listed in the marketing materials they sent us are higher: 1.36% each for t...

Do you have access to all the funds in that drop-down list in the link? No. I have access to all the retirement target date funds (not the college series). Also the following: AMCAP The New Economy Fund New World Fund SMALLCAP World Fund The New Economy Fund Fundamental Investors Investment Company...

Thanks for the help, Dieter, Desert, and KevinW. How many target date fund choices do you have in your 401k? Ten, in five year increments from 2010 through 2055. ERs range from 1.5% to 1.7%, increasing the further out the date is. The 2020 appears to be the most "balanced" across growth, g...

Been a while since I've posted here. Hope all is well with everyone. My company switched to a new 401(k) plan at the beginning of the year, and we just had the plan presentation this morning. As you'd expect, the fund options are less than stellar--they're all through American Funds, all actively-ma...

Not sure if this belongs under Other Discussions... About a year ago, I thought it would be fun to hang on to predictions about what would happen in 2010, in light of Harry Browne's Fourth Golden Rule of Financial Safety: No one can predict the future. This isn't intended as anything personal agains...

What is recommended, rebalancing the portfolio as soon as one of the four categories is >35% or <15%, or rebalancing only annually?  Has anyone done any back testing to compare the two approaches? TIA. I think someone did a backtest of the two approaches in the epic Bogleheads thread. Conclusion: t...