Do you know how much your 401k is costing you? I would wager not, nor have you ever asked your employer about costs or looked in fund documents to find out. Chances are, it’s far too much and it’s eating away your retirement nest egg.
Upcoming Labor Department regulations mandating disclosure of retirement-plan costs are long overdue. Even then (I haven’t seen the final version yet), they may be so bureaucratic that millions may ignore them.
A median-income, two-earner household will pay nearly $155,000 over the course of their lifetime in 401(k) fees, according to a new analysis by national public policy center Demos.
If you think your employer knows more about your 401(k) plan's fees than you do, think again. Sponsors of some 401(k) plans don't understand the fees they're paying toward plan administration, says a new report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office. The GAO reported on one case, in fact, where a relatively large plan underestimated its recordkeeping costs by $58,000. And more than 90 percent of plan sponsors don't use free tools the government supplies to help compare costs among 401(k) plan providers, the report says.
Mutual fund fees in 401(k) plans can look tiny—a median of 1 percent of assets per year, says financial-data provider Morningstar. But over a lifetime of saving, they can really scramble your nest egg. A recent study by Demos, a research and advocacy group, found that an American household of two median-income earners will pay, on average, almost $155,000 in 401(k) fees over 40 years. Yes, you read that right.
Your retirement account statement likely does not tell you this, but fees are adding up on your IRA or 401(k) over time – and they can be substantial, as much $155,000 for a median income, two-earner family over a lifetime.
That was not a misprint. In many areas, that amount will buy you a nice home.
The research and advocacy group, Demos, outlines the cost of retirement funds in a new report.
Yikes! The advocacy group Demos reports that a two-income couple — earning a median income over their careers — spends an average of $154,794 during their working lives on 401(k) fees. Fees, Demos says, eats up nearly one-third of their investment returns.
A higher income couple pays even more in fees: $277,969.
The Boston Review recently hosted a forum titled, How Markets Crowd Out Morals, in which Michael Sandel wrote the lead essay, arguing that we as a society should be questioning which institutions we allow to be defined by market norms.
In the latest unfortunate news at the intersection of motherhood and politics, stay-at-home moms are doing worse emotionally than their working counterparts.
New York— Today, leaders in the House of Representatives introduced a bill that would dramatically expand Americans’ fundamental freedom to vote: the Voter Empowerment Act of 2012 (VEA). The far-reaching reforms reflect the importance of cutting through the needless red tape that is restricting too many eligible Americans’ ability to register and vote. Demos applauds the goals of co-sponsors Reps. John Lewis, James Clyburn, Steny Hoyer, John Conyers, Robert Brady, and Keith Ellison, among others.
Boston, MA – Citing clear evidence that the Secretary of the Commonwealth and the Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA) have violated their federally-mandated responsibilities to offer tens of thousands of public assistance clients opportunities to register to vote, a Massachusetts citizen and two community groups filed suit today for violations of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA).
Hartford, CT. – A coalition of good government groups including Common Cause, Demos, People For the American Way, Public Citizen, Credo Action and others are calling on Connecticut Governor Dannell Malloy to sign H.B. 5556, “Changes to Campaign Finance Laws and other Election Laws,” which just passed the General Assembly. The bill would require public disclosure of major corporate and individual donors to Super PACs and other independent groups, bringing increased transparency and accountability to Connecticut’s elections.
Every single working day of the year, American women pay a 22.6 percent gender tax on their income. By gender tax, I mean a negative transfer imposed upon women’s wages which reduces the wealth they control and increases the amount of time they work. Feminists know the gender tax as the pay gap (in 2010, the median full-time, year-round woman earned $10,784 less than her male counterpart) as well as Equal Pay Day (to earn his income of $47,715, she had to work until April 17, 2011—an extra 15 weeks on the job).
New York, NY - On May 5 2012, the Connecticut Senate passed legislation introduced by Governor Dannell Malloy, and Secretary of the State Denise Merrill to enact Same Day Registration and online voter registration, effective July 2013 and January 2014, respectively. The bill, HR 5024, had been previously passed by the state House. It now heads to the governor’s desk for his signature, expected later this month.
By now it's pretty clear that Mitt Romney's recent claim about female job losses during the Obama presidency has more to do with selective number fudging and electoral pandering than factual accuracy.
NEW YORK – A new report reveals that African Americans remain disproportionately excluded from corporate and nonprofit board membership in New York City: Of the 697 directors that sit on the boards of the city’s 25 largest employers, only 5.7 percent are black. The study, by John Morning and national policy center Demos, also surveyed black participation on the boards of 14 premiere cultural institutions in New York City, finding that only 33 of the total 581 directors were African American.
In the past 72 hours since its introduction, The Budget For All – an innovative, values driven fiscal plan to keep America exceptional in the 21st Century – has inspired support from noted economists, renowned think tanks and cutting-edge advocacy organizations.