Plan Vendors & Fees

When you are considering different vendors, we can help you evaluate their services and the reasonableness of their fees. We get that trying to understand the various fees within a plan can be daunting.

WHAT FEES ARE THERE IN A 401(K) PLAN?

Typically, 401(k) plans have three types of fees: Investment fees, administrative fees, and fiduciary and consulting fees. Some of these 401(k) fees are charged at a plan level for the management and administration of a plan, while others are related to the investments made by employees within the plan. Sometimes, the fees paid in a 401(k) are taken directly from plan assets by your service provider and then paid out to the various vendors working on the plan. In other cases, the investments themselves will carry fees, which are taken out of the money invested in that specific investment. All together, fees in a 401(k) plan can go to many places, including:

• Investment Managers, who oversee the investments in a fund;
• Administrators, who handle things like the transfer of assets in and out of a fund;
• Recordkeepers, who keep detailed records of a 401(k) plan’s transactions;
• Lawyers, who draft legal documents and oversee regulatory compliance
• Accountants, who may perform audits of a 401(k) plan’s activities;
• The Government, which collects any applicable taxes related to a fund’s activities.

Keeping fees reasonable is your fiduciary duty and GFG Retirement Solutions will help you do just that.