The Money Mustache Community

General Discussion => Welcome and General Discussion => Topic started by: HAULIN3 on February 24, 2014, 12:20:54 PM

Title: 401k
Post by: HAULIN3 on February 24, 2014, 12:20:54 PM
I looked at our statements on our 401k from 12/1/05 to today, our account was charged $9,017.87 in fees & expenses.  This seems really really bad...
Title: Re: 401k
Post by: matchewed on February 24, 2014, 12:23:51 PM
This is meaningless without balances, what funds, the various fees structured for each fund (expense ratio, front loaded...etc.). Out of context numbers don't seem bad, they just seem like numbers.
Title: Re: 401k
Post by: Unionville on February 24, 2014, 12:32:56 PM
I just fell out of my chair.
Title: Re: 401k
Post by: MooseOutFront on February 24, 2014, 12:50:31 PM
I bet your balances are high though!

Possibly high enough that it's worth finding a new job so you can roll this thing over to a IRA and slash the fees to less than 0.20% from whatever they are now.
Title: Re: 401k
Post by: nawhite on February 24, 2014, 02:58:40 PM
This is meaningless without balances, what funds, the various fees structured for each fund (expense ratio, front loaded...etc.). Out of context numbers don't seem bad, they just seem like numbers.

I like to believe that Haulin3 has $1 million in the 401k. So at $1100/year that makes for the expense ratio of 0.11%. Sounds about right to me ;-)
Title: Re: 401k
Post by: matchewed on February 24, 2014, 04:44:06 PM
This is meaningless without balances, what funds, the various fees structured for each fund (expense ratio, front loaded...etc.). Out of context numbers don't seem bad, they just seem like numbers.

I like to believe that Haulin3 has $1 million in the 401k. So at $1100/year that makes for the expense ratio of 0.11%. Sounds about right to me ;-)
http://www.sec.gov/investor/tools/mfcc/holding-period.htm

Play around with it. It is rather easy with average returns and an initial portfolio of $130k with a .77% yield to hit 12k in fees over the course of 9 years. That's with no front or back loaded fees.

Like I said context is everything.
Title: Re: 401k
Post by: soccerluvof4 on February 25, 2014, 03:43:33 AM
yikes!
Title: Re: 401k
Post by: dude on February 25, 2014, 06:02:59 AM
Exactly -- ALL 401ks have fees; it costs money to run them -- but the whole number means nothing, it's the percentage that matters.  If the fund manager is only skimming .027% (i.e., $0.27 per $1,000, like mine does), well, that's just fine.  If, on the other hand, they're skimming 1.5%, then you're getting robbed.