And in Michigan, the Blue Cross Blue Shield plan there is trying to convert to a mutual plan from nonprofit in what many observers see as a move that will not only allow them to more easily conduct business and grow through future acquisitions.
As for convenience, some plan administrators, such as Fidelity Investments, are able to distribute your contributions from each paycheck to out-of-plan mutual funds, the way they would to in-plan funds.
What Old Mutual and Sanlam plan to do with the proceeds is still not clear.
Not only were plan mutual fund-related costs potentially inflated but, worse still, the investment performance of plans may have suffered since better performing non-Fidelity funds may have been excluded on the basis of disclosed costs that had been manipulated behind-the-scenes by Fidelity.
FORBES: Fidelity 401(k) Price-Fixing Scheme Cost Retirement Savers Plenty
At first blush, as stated above, why would a large plan use a mutual fund with a pricing structure that is no different than the pricing structure for a small plan?
Why should you never buy a mutual fund or retirement plan from a broker or insurance agent?
That is, even though these 401k plan record-keepers had negotiated contracts that allowed them to collect greater revenue sharing from non-proprietary mutual funds on behalf of 401k plan participants the record-keepers told the funds to keep the money.
FORBES: "Capping" 401k Revenue Sharing: Record-keepers Block Rebates To Participants (May 19,2008)
These questionnaires are available through mutual fund companies, retirement plan providers, investment advisors and brokers.
If your earnings are more modest, you may be able to use an off-the-shelf "defined contribution" plan from a mutual fund company, broker, bank or insurance company.
In my opinion, using institutional mutual funds in a retirement plan of this size would have resulted in lower costs far more easily and with no loss of transparency.
Because many shareholders own their shares through a mutual fund, a pension plan, or other investment pool actively managed by a third party, they are indirect or passive owners.
FORBES: SEC's Political Disclosure Proposal Will Improve Corporate Governance
We still believe that Vanguard is among the best mutual fund companies offering defined contribution plan investment management, recordkeeping and administrative services.
FORBES: More Worries for Defined Contribution Plan Fiduciaries (August 31, 2006)
Today, forty years too late investors are learning that 401(k)s stuffed full of costly, poorly designed retail mutual funds are hardly a retirement plan.
FORBES: Develop a "Fiduciary Response" or You Will Get Scammed
Why did the plan choose high cost mutual funds?
FORBES: Corporate Sponsors Agree: 401(k) Plan Results Don't Matter (April 8, 2008)
Fidelity has long been a dominant player in the 401(k) retirement plan services marketplace, offering both administration and record-keeping of plans, as well as mutual fund money management to companies and their employee plan participants.
FORBES: Fidelity 401(k) Price-Fixing Scheme Cost Retirement Savers Plenty
However, in most cases, the financial institution sponsoring the solo 401(k) plan documents will limit the individual investment options to stocks and mutual funds and will also exclude many of the attractive solo 401(k) plan options, such as the loan feature and the Roth contribution component.
The key figure participants should focus on is the investment expense ratio charged by mutual funds for assets you hold in the plan.
But unlike mutual funds, changes in fund allocations in a 529 Plan typically can be made only once a year.
Barstein: The cost of the broker overseeing the plan IS NOT included in the cost of the mutual fund.
Also, the cost of the broker overseeing the plan is not included in the cost of the mutual fund.
But remember, you need to be disciplined if you are going to forgo a 401(k) for an IRA--make sure you set up an automatic investment plan for the Roth, something you can do through many mutual fund companies.
They also don't apply to mutual-fund transactions during 2011 or stock acquired in connection with a dividend reinvestment plan.
WSJ: There Are Few Changes to Contend With for the 2011 Tax Year
It turns out that instead of choosing from 20 or 30 funds in my plan, I can set up this brokerage account and get 4, 600 mutual funds to choose from.
With such an option, also called a brokerage window, you can essentially turn your 401(k) plan into a regular brokerage account where you can trade a wide array of mutual funds, in some cases also exchange-traded funds and stocks.
If other non-proprietary mutual funds agreed to rebate or discount half or more of their fees to 401k plans, plan sponsors (assuming they were aware of the availability of revenue sharing-which is often not the case) would demand that mutual funds affiliated with the record-keeper offer comparable discounts.
FORBES: "Capping" 401k Revenue Sharing: Record-keepers Block Rebates To Participants (May 19,2008)
During the Working Group meetingthe Afghan government and the international community vowed to continue mutual cooperation to further the conservation and development process and to begin implementation of a long term plan that would ensure the preservation of the site for future generations of Afghans and people from all over the World.
UNESCO: A new phase for the preservation of Afghan World Heritage
The plan offers you a broad selection of inexpensive index funds and ETFs, not just pricey active mutual funds.
But an embryonic plan to create a super-regulator for consumer products, such as mortgages, credit cards and mutual funds, is already encountering stiff opposition.
There the consultant, investment manager and mutual fund provider were all affiliates of the employer and there was a vast amount of company stock in the plan.
FORBES: International Campaign to Eliminate Pension Consultant Abuses (November 2, 2004 )
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