I am here to tell you that an everyday traffic jam may help you preserve tens of thousands of dollars of your company 401(k) retirement plan value.
Before you begin your drive from home or work to an unfamiliar destination, do you turn on Google maps? You most likely do because you are comfortable using the technology today to save the frustration and wasted time of a traffic jam.
Mapping technology uses real time information to help you save time and avoid being late. Just the other day, I saved over 30 minutes driving back from an appointment to my office by taking another route.
That 30 minutes allowed to me to return all my e-mail and voice messages before the end of the day. That extra time helped me be even more productive the following day.
The same level of time-saving technology is available to help improve your company 401(k) retirement plan investment management decisions. There is no more need for the, “I don’t have time” excuse.
The next you avoid a traffic jam and save extra time in your day, use that as an excuse to review your current company 401(k) retirement plan account mutual fund holdings.
Managing your company 401(k) has never been more productive and easy to do. Individual company 401(k) retirement plan participants need to get as comfortable with that technology as they are with Google maps.
Do you have any idea how your company 401(k) retirement plan default mutual funds are ranked by investment performance? The same ranking can be produced regarding the annual expenses of each mutual fund.
The real time technology exists to provide you with the most important nagging company 401(k) retirement plan investment management question. That is, are you getting the investment performance that you are paying your mutual fund managers to provide?
Even more important now due to the increase in stock market volatility and rising interest rates is the preservation of the last several years of your company 401(k) retirement plan investment gains.
You most likely own a mutual fund that suffers from the “double whammy” of bad company 401(k) retirement plan investment management decisions.
First, it is very expensive to own. Second, it has gone down in value this year at a faster rate than the overall stock market averages.
The next time you get valuable extra time in your day, use it to review your most recent company 401(k) retirement plan statement. Better yet, go online and make sure you have complete access to your 401(k) account.
Ric Lager
Lager & Company, Inc.
