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With more than 90 million Americans covered by a retirement savings plan (401k/403b/457), it’s even more important to know how to make the best decisions. In this episode, we lay out a few tips by peeling the onion on your retirement plan. We also sprinkle in a few questions that you’ll want to ask your employer concerning your specific plan.
Topics Covered
- How to Evaluate Your 401k
- Understanding the Employer Match
- What are your contribution options and how to know which one is best?
- Making sense of the multitude of investment options including target-date funds
- How to determine the cost of your 401k
- Where to look for your specific 401k/403b plan ratings
Facts and Links Mentioned In the Show
- 77% admitted to not having the time or investment knowledge to be confident in their investment decisions. [Fidelity Research]
- About 21% of eligible employees for 401k accounts, don’t contribute to their 401k. [According to Vanguard]
- Employees miss out on an average $1,336 of employer match each year (2.4% of income missed). [Financial Engines]
- People who had help with decisions on their 401k earned 3.32% higher median returns from 2006-2012. [Financial Engines]
- See 401k plan ratings [Brightscope.com]
- Think Your Retirement Plan is Bad, Talk to a Teacher [NY Times]
- Demystifying the 401(k) plan investment process [CNBC]
- Why Your 401k Fees Aren’t Lower [Wall Street Journal]
