It is that time of year again. You may have already received the e-mail from Human Resources or your Minnesota company 401(k) retirement plan provider.
Your company 401(k) retirement plan sponsor is legally obligated to annually review the mutual fund options in your company 401(k) retirement plan menu. As part of this review, several mutual fund options will be added or deleted from your company 401(k) retirement plan menu.
Here is what you need to know when you get the notification of those changes. Check to see if any of the mutual funds that you currently own are being deleted from your company 401(k) retirement plan menu. Your existing mutual fund may be “mapped over” to a new mutual fund option.
If that is the case, make sure that the new mutual fund option you are being offered is the same level of risk. Don’t increase the risk level in your company 401(k) plan when the mutual fund options change. If your existing mutual fund option is going away, you need to act right away. Don’t allow your existing balance in that mutual fund to be automatically transferred to a new mutual fund that you never heard of before.
Call your company 401(k) retirement plan provider and let them know that you don’t want to own the new mutual fund option. You may be better off taking your existing mutual fund balance and placing it in the money market option. Take more time to review all of your new company 401(k) mutual fund options.
Don’t let your company 401(k) retirement plan sponsor make your investment management decisions in your company 401(k) retirement plan account.
It is your money. You should decide what mutual funds you want to own. A mutual fund menu change does not need to be a big deal. Just make sure you are aware of any changes taking place with the mutual funds that you currently own.
There may be better company 401(k) retirement plan mutual funds available to you now. Find out which mutual funds they are.
Ric Lager
Lager & Company, Inc.
