Make Retirement Plan Fee Disclosures Clearer, Watchdog Tells DOL

The U.S. Labor Department should require improved fee disclosures to help 401(k) retirement plan participants better understand and use that data to save, a new government watchdog report advises.

More than a third of 401(k) participants don’t understand and don’t know how to use DOL-required fee disclosures, and 41% of participants didn’t know they pay fees at all to invest in workplace savings plans, the Government Accountability Office found in a nationwide survey.

“Many Americans have limited financial literacy. Given that, and the technical nature of fee information, 401(k) plan and investment fees may be inherently hard to understand,” the ...