a question on marketing

[Guest advisorpage]

I have been reviewing this forum and have noticed that there is little to the effect of marketing to either employees or employers the benefits of 401ks or 403bs...especially considering the tax changes coming into effect here in the next couple of weeks, though there is plenty about the mechanics and legislation of them.

Reason I am curious about this is because I have been asked to consider creating an informational/marketing resource to be shared with HR depts and employees concerning the tax law changes...and ways to self-direct investment allocations using current technologies.

A friend of mine has created a very nice graphical web-interface (similiar to bigcharts.com but prettier) which can detail exact holdings as well as market momentum and indices. (He is an investment advisor and represents one branch of a multi-tiered presentation sheduled for a large coporation next month, education would fall into my lap with the other tiers being law and accounting.)

Before I really get involved with this concept, I thought I might submit a question or three to the floor:

What is the pain behind marketing 401k plans to employees or is that typically left for the HR dept? Recently PlanSponsor.com surveyed their visitors and found almost no employees had more than 4 holdings in their 401k Click Here for the Press Release which they claimed wasn't good diversification.

Is there any real service to realistically educate employees and HR personell about the ins and outs of 401ks and 403bs? I know that most employees regard 401ks as a pain- even my wife refuses to look at hers to see how it works, and I think we all know deep down that most people would rather not be bothered by their 401k or 403b at all, but current events may be shaping an increased awareness as more americans are nearing retirement and the whole social security fund debacle.

Finally- is anyone willing to share insights about a project concerning the education and marketing or 401k/403 plans?

Many thanks for your time. Feel free to email me for a more private discussion as needed. christian@advisorpage.com