Fighting for a better 401(k)....

[Guest blltnyc]

Hi,

I'm a reporter at a national personal finance magazine working on a broad 401(k) story that will look at issues many 401(k) plan participants continue to face, even despite the significant improvements of the recent tax bill and the general evolutionary improvement of 401(k)plans over the last 20 years. We're looking at a variety of issues, including company stock matching contributions and how these often overweight employees in company stock, employees that don't have a 401(k) plan at all (particularly in smaller companies), diversification issues within and among 401(k) fund choices, high fees that remain in some plans, any difficulties or delays with roll overs, difficulties in maxing out contributions due to company limitations on deferral rates and testing, and any plan issues that tend to arise during a merger/acquisition.

I am looking for people to speak with regarding these issues, in terms of how these plan design or structure issues can be an obstacle for participants and what individuals can do to best offset these issues. Secondly, and please note, more importantly, I'm looking for anyone who might know of participants who have been in any of these situations and what they've done to offset the problem. Particularly, I'm looking for participants who've been in a 401(k) plan that has been affected by one of the above issues and who've taken a proactive attempt to change (or at least try to change) the issue with their employer, hopefully with success.

In other words, I'm looking for participants who've e-mailed HR, written letters, or done whatever it takes to try and change something about their 401(k) plan (or start one, for that matter). This might be an individual or group of employees you know through working with a client, or perhaps it's someone you know personally that's tried to work for a better 401(k). It's a success story of a sort--in the sense that the company can show it listened to its employees' demands, but it can serve to illustrate to readers that it is possible to push for changes to a 401(k).

If you know of any such individuals or would be interested in talking to me further about these issues, please email me at I look forward to speaking with you.