What are 401(k) Plan Fees and Who Pays for Them?
If you want to know how fees affect your retirement savings, you will need to know about the different types of fees and expenses and the different ways in which they are charged. 401(k) plan fees and expenses generally fall into three categories: Plan Administration Fees – The day-to-day operation of a 401(k) plan involves expenses for basic administrative services — such as plan record keeping, accounting, legal and trustee services — that are necessary for administering the plan as a whole. Today a 401(k) plan also may offer a host of additional services, such as telephone voice response systems, access to a customer service representative, educational seminars, retirement planning software, investment advice, electronic access to plan information, daily valuation and on-line transactions. In some instances, the costs of administrative services will be covered by investment fees that are deducted directly from investment returns. Otherwise, if administrative costs are separately c
