Bloomberg TV aired a three part series on 6/19/2008 about “The Truth Behind Hidden Fees in 401k Plans.”

8 out of 10 people are completely unaware of the costs for their 401k fees according to a survey conducted in 2007. These fees are so confusing to read they may as well be in a foreign language because when they are mentioned they are buried in fine print.

The U.S. Department of Labor says that plan managers can have as many as 17 different kinds of fees charged to your plan. Have you ever heard of Wrap fees, Revenue Sharing, Surrender Charges, Finder fees, 12B-1 fees, Soft Dollars, and Shelf Space fees?

These are just a few of the many terms used to levy fees against 401k retirement plans for brokerage or management costs. What you don’t know can hurt you.!

Over the years, the money saved in a 401k account should compound to make a comfortable nest egg. Most of us don’t realize how much of this equity is offset by management or brokerage fees. Ted Benna of Malvern Benefits Corporation says “401k fees at 2% over a period of time, can erode as much as half of a persons savings.

Fees as high as 3%-5% can “kill a retirement nest egg!” Edward Siedel of SEC Investment Management Division has seen them and says excessive fees have become epidemic.

More and more Americans will have to work in their Golden Years to make ends meet if 401k balances don’t start climbing higher. As he so eloquently put it “pension plans are going the way of the 8 track tape.”

Financial institutions and insurance companies are not obligated to disclose management fees according to Burton G. Malkiel PhD of Princeton University. When they do it is so obscure that it is difficult to understand. Americans have about 3 trillion dollars in 401k plans so people should take notice and ask questions from their managers or brokers.

People should be aware of the fact that 401k fees can make the difference between eating cat food or cordon blue in their retirement years. Unless laws governing disclosure rates change in the near future, there is not much you can do except ask questions.

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Ask your broker about your 401k fees. Don’t put all your nest eggs in one basket. Having a 401k, with social security and a small business can help you hedge your bet against receding assets in what should be your “Golden Years”.

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