401k Fees -Working?

[goldtpa]

Just curious as to whether clients are looking at the fee disclosures and are they taking action?

[Bird]

For the most part, no. I have one client who might make a change, but it's more a result of the hassle and uncertainty of the brokerage account arrangement than the fees themselves, although the lights are very slowly going on that their investment fees are indeed rather high.

I'm not really sure what to say about the overall situation - the DOL is not misguided in its intentions, but it's been a real PITA with not much in the way of results.

[four01kman]

In sending out a number of prospecting letters, focusing on the fee disclosure, I received zero responses.

[goldtpa]

I agree that the DOL has had good intentions. However the employees and employers dont care. When the stock market is up, people are fat and happy. When the markets are down, they start to care. I also think that people will be confused when they see a $71 charge on their statement, not realizing that its $71 per thousand.

[GMK]

FWIW, we care.

We just completed an RFP earlier in the year, so we knew what the numbers would be. Actually, with our plan provider, we already knew.

It'll be interesting to see what kind of feedback we get from participants after they receive their next statements.