Wealth & Lifestyle

What you don’t know CAN hurt you

Beware of hidden fees

Posted by: Team Tony

When the 401(k) came to be, it represented freedom. Freedom that often gave the illusion of control. Control of the future. Control of our investment decisions. But how much is getting eaten away by fees?

In this day and age, our money has to last even longer than we may think – don’t let hidden and excessive fees jeopardize your future.

Fact: The average 401(k) plan administrator charges 1.3% to 1.5% annually just to participate in the plan. That’s $1,300 for every $100,000!

To escape fee factories, you must lower your total annual fees and associated investment costs to 1.25% or less, on average. This includes the cost of the advice (a registered investment advisor to help you allocate appropriately, rebalance your portfolio periodically, and so on) plus the cost of the investments.

But, to better shroud the fees, Wall Street and the vast majority of 401(k) plan providers have come up with some pretty diverse and confusing terminology. Expense ratio, transaction costs, tax costs, soft-dollar costs, cash drag, exchange fee, account fee, purchase fee and on and on. Call them what you want. They all cost you money!

Fact: 67% of people enrolled in a 401(k) think there are no fees.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Resolve right now that you’ll never again be one of the many. You’re becoming an insider now. You are a chess player, not the chess piece. Knowledge is power, but execution trumps knowledge.

So what do you do?

Pull back the curtain. There is a company called America’s Best 401k that can alleviate almost all of your fears and concerns. If you’re going to create a lifetime income plan, you have to get savvy on keeping more of your money. To do this, you can easily and confidentially check and analyze the fees of your current 401K plan. America’s Best 401K has a powerful Fee Checker tool that will show how your 401k plan stacks up against others within seconds and show you what you are REALLY paying in fees.

Click on the graphic below to uncover the truth about your 401k plan.