Most 401k plans are a scam

[Karee 4,189]

I think anyone that is saving, or planning to save for retirement should watch this. It opened my eyes to alot of things. I made some drastic changes to my retirement account after watching this and doing research on what funds my "financial adviser" had me invested in. Quick example, she had me invested in FRETX which is an equity mutual fund. Come to find out that I'd have to pay over $2000 in fees for $10,000 invested over 10 years regardless of the performance of the fund. Also, that fund underperformed the S&P 500 by ALOT. An S&P index fund with $10,000 invested over 10 years would cost $217 in fees.

Basically congress is in the pockets of Wall Street. It's about 50 minutes long, but it's worth it to see how the majority of financial firms in this country are not here to help you, but rather suck every last penny out of you.

Apparently I still need to go back to internet school, because I can't seem to embed it here. Maybe someone else can figure it out. Here's the link:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/retirement-gamble/

[Darnell 8,478]

i have an account that 'allows' me to invest in whatever I want, and fees are collected only when I buy something.

I like it.

[BaBamSam 239]

Basically congress is in the pockets of Wall Street. It's about 50 minutes long, but it's worth it to see how the majority of financial firms in this country are not here to help you, but rather suck every last penny out of you.

You had to watch a 50 minute video to come to that conclusion?

[Karee 4,189]

You had to watch a 50 minute video to come to that conclusion?

They way they do it is what shocked me.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

I pay a small custodial fee every year to watch my investments do nothing but go down since late 2008, then finally recover to pre 2008 levels last fall, and actually show about a 5% return over the last six months. So exciting!

[himher 634]

I think anyone that is saving, or planning to save for retirement should watch this. It opened my eyes to alot of things. I made some drastic changes to my retirement account after watching this and doing research on what funds my "financial adviser" had me invested in. Quick example, she had me invested in FRETX which is an equity mutual fund. Come to find out that I'd have to pay over $2000 in fees for $10,000 invested over 10 years regardless of the performance of the fund. Also, that fund underperformed the S&P 500 by ALOT. An S&P index fund with $10,000 invested over 10 years would cost $217 in fees.

Basically congress is in the pockets of Wall Street. It's about 50 minutes long, but it's worth it to see how the majority of financial firms in this country are not here to help you, but rather suck every last penny out of you.

Apparently I still need to go back to internet school, because I can't seem to embed it here. Maybe someone else can figure it out. Here's the link:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/retirement-gamble/

Dude you just figured that out?

Those huge wall street bonuses and salaries do not come from their hard work. They are skimmed off the top of our IRA, 401K, and investment accounts with money saved from OUR hard work.

[Karee 4,189]

Dude you just figured that out?

Those huge wall street bonuses and salaries do not come from their hard work. They are skimmed off the top of our IRA, 401K, and investment accounts with money saved from OUR hard work.

Well I "just figured out" since I am just now planning for the future. Thankfully, with yanking all my funds, I made $30. So no damage in my case. Just posting to maybe help someone else that hasn't figured it out.

Edited April 27, 2013 by Karee

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

I think anyone that is saving, or planning to save for retirement should watch this. It opened my eyes to alot of things. I made some drastic changes to my retirement account after watching this and doing research on what funds my "financial adviser" had me invested in. Quick example, she had me invested in FRETX which is an equity mutual fund. Come to find out that I'd have to pay over $2000 in fees for $10,000 invested over 10 years regardless of the performance of the fund. Also, that fund underperformed the S&P 500 by ALOT. An S&P index fund with $10,000 invested over 10 years would cost $217 in fees.

Basically congress is in the pockets of Wall Street. It's about 50 minutes long, but it's worth it to see how the majority of financial firms in this country are not here to help you, but rather suck every last penny out of you.

Apparently I still need to go back to internet school, because I can't seem to embed it here. Maybe someone else can figure it out. Here's the link:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/retirement-gamble/

The have upgraded the software here. Most things are cut and paste now

As for 401Ks you are right . I bet advisers fund had a 1b-1 fee that was heft also . That is another name for kickback to the advisory fee for putting you in their rip off mutual fund.

Just for kicks tell your plan administrator this story and tell them how much money you lost. Then ask who the fiduciary is. if they have any sense they will get real nervous.

Ask them to put some low cost funds like Vanguard in the plan.

Edited April 27, 2013 by The Nature Boy

[Karee 4,189]

The have upgraded the software here. Most things are cut and paste now

As for 401Ks you are right . I bet advisers fund had a 1b-1 fee that was heft also . That is another name for kickback to the advisory fee for putting you in their rip off mutual fund.

Just for kicks tell your plan administrator this story and tell them how much money you lost. Then ask who the fiduciary is. if they have any sense they will get real nervous.

Ask them to put some low cost funds like Vanguard in the plan.

She's already liquidated everything to cash. I actually came out $31 ahead after it was all over. I think the fee you're referring to is an 12b-1 fee. Yeah that was all in there.

She asked me why I was closing the account. I said:

#1 The three funds you have me in underperform vs. the S&P 500 by huge margins. (I ran the numbers for the 3 training years and the 5 trailing years. It was laughable how bad these 3 funds were compared to the S&P 500.)

#2 For $1,000 invested, just the mangement fees (not the 12b-1 stuff you mentioned) come out to $210 over 10 years. That's 21% of the amount invested going to fees. It's a joke. She had no answer and just said, "sorry to see you go"

I've alread opened a Merril Edge account that links directly with my BoA bank account since they are basically the same company. VFINX is an S&P 500 index fund, and guess what? The fees for $10k invested over 10 years come out $217, not $2100. And like I said in point #1 the S&P outperforms these funds by far anyway. Hell on that PBS episode it said that 95% of the mutual funds out there can't keep pace with the S&P 500. When I move my money into VFINX the trading fee is like $9.

This is all something I went out and did on my own, and not part of a company 401k. I'm not waiting around until I'm 59 1/2 or whatever it is to retire.

At least in Thailand when some chick was scamming me for money, I usually got laid out of the deal.

[himher 634]

She's already liquidated everything to cash. I actually came out $31 ahead after it was all over. I think the fee you're referring to is an 12b-1 fee. Yeah that was all in there.

She asked me why I was closing the account. I said:

#1 The three funds you have me in underperform vs. the S&P 500 by huge margins. (I ran the numbers for the 3 training years and the 5 trailing years. It was laughable how bad these 3 funds were compared to the S&P 500.)

#2 For $1,000 invested, just the mangement fees (not the 12b-1 stuff you mentioned) come out to $210 over 10 years. That's 21% of the amount invested going to fees. It's a joke. She had no answer and just said, "sorry to see you go"

I've alread opened a Merril Edge account that links directly with my BoA bank account since they are basically the same company. VFINX is an S&P 500 index fund, and guess what? The fees for $10k invested over 10 years come out $217, not $2100. And like I said in point #1 the S&P outperforms these funds by far anyway. Hell on that PBS episode it said that 95% of the mutual funds out there can't keep pace with the S&P 500. When I move my money into VFINX the trading fee is like $9.

This is all something I went out and did on my own, and not part of a company 401k. I'm not waiting around until I'm 59 1/2 or whatever it is to retire.

At least in Thailand when some chick was scamming me for money, I usually got laid out of the deal.

Laid as opposed to f--ked? LOL

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Hell on that PBS episode it said that 95% of the mutual funds out there can't keep pace with the S&P 500. When I move my money into VFINX the trading fee is like $9

See, now you know why they want to kill PBS. You learn chit there.

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

She's already liquidated everything to cash. I actually came out $31 ahead after it was all over. I think the fee you're referring to is an 12b-1 fee. Yeah that was all in there.

She asked me why I was closing the account. I said:

#1 The three funds you have me in underperform vs. the S&P 500 by huge margins. (I ran the numbers for the 3 training years and the 5 trailing years. It was laughable how bad these 3 funds were compared to the S&P 500.)

#2 For $1,000 invested, just the mangement fees (not the 12b-1 stuff you mentioned) come out to $210 over 10 years. That's 21% of the amount invested going to fees. It's a joke. She had no answer and just said, "sorry to see you go"

I've alread opened a Merril Edge account that links directly with my BoA bank account since they are basically the same company. VFINX is an S&P 500 index fund, and guess what? The fees for $10k invested over 10 years come out $217, not $2100. And like I said in point #1 the S&P outperforms these funds by far anyway. Hell on that PBS episode it said that 95% of the mutual funds out there can't keep pace with the S&P 500. When I move my money into VFINX the trading fee is like $9.

This is all something I went out and did on my own, and not part of a company 401k. I'm not waiting around until I'm 59 1/2 or whatever it is to retire.

At least in Thailand when some chick was scamming me for money, I usually got laid out of the deal.

VFINX is a good low cost fund. I think it just mirrors the S and P 500

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Invest in ammo.

[Póg mo 1,749]

I pay a small custodial fee every year to watch my investments do nothing but go down since late 2008, then finally recover to pre 2008 levels last fall, and actually show about a 5% return over the last six months. So exciting!

You should thank your lucky stars that the FED thanks to it's asset buying program, has effectively made investing on the stock market a risk free proposition. Go American capitalism!

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

You should thank your lucky stars that the FED thanks to it's asset buying program, has effectively made investing on the stock market a risk free proposition. Go American capitalism!

Yeah, right. Go suck on somebody else's tailpipe.