Watch That 401K
I was really spoiled when I was in the military using the TSP retirement plan. Ultra low expense ratios on the funds (sometimes as low as 1.5 basis points, or 0.015% (compare to Vanguard at ten times that cost, much less a typical plan at 100 times that cost.) Even better, there were no additional fees. My current 401K has only one index fund with a reasonable expense ratio, which I can deal with given the other options I have in our Roth IRAs and the TSP. What I really dislike are the non-disclosed nonsense fees which get added on regularly.
I was looking at my account the other day and was surprised to see that since I started making contributions to this account in March that I've already paid two “recordkeeping” fees and two “accounting/misc service” fees. The amount of money isn't much (there isn't much in the account yet) but percentage wise, it basically doubles the expense ratio of the fund I'm in. I guess I would be okay with these small fees (I'd pay far more in even a cheap 529 plan) if they would have disclosed them. As you might imagine, I actually read my 401K plan document that the company is required to give me, and it doesn't mention these fees. I wonder if there are more to come.
A larger issue I had with the 401K was that my first contribution this year was mistakenly put into someone else's account. It took me a few months to realize it. It was rapidly corrected as you might imagine, but if I had never said something, I'm convinced they would have never noticed. It was well over $3K, not exactly chump change. I mentioned it to a few of my partners. They all said, “Wow, I never even look at that stuff.” Moral of the story? Keep an eye on your money lest it disappears into the electronic ether, especially when you first start a 401K or when withdrawing or borrowing money from it. If something doesn't look right, it probably isn't.
I am guessing your new 401K plan administrator is Schwab.
I am with schwab for the company 401K ( small group) and have the same fees for “record keeping” and account service/misc fees. To add insult to injury, I also have a investment advisor fee of 3.3 basis points, an independent financial advisor helps the group pick the mutual fund lineup and provides advice to employees.
I stick fully to the one index fund present ( S&P 500) but it irritates me to no end that I still have to pay the investment advisor fee when no “advice” is obtained.