There was a time when folks in the food industry didnt want nutritional information published. They said people would be so bombarded with facts, they wouldnt know what to do or wouldnt bother to find out.

They were right in some respects: People see helpful nutritional facts on packaging, and they buy the bad stuff anyway.

And the same may be true when retirement plan participants get clearer details on how much they pay in fees to invest their retirement money.

New disclosure rules by the Labor Department are intended to help workers and the companies that provide retirement plans understand the fees charged to, or deducted from, individual accounts.

Those with 401(k)s or similar plans should begin receiving the information by Aug. 30. And more detailed information tied directly to the fees you pay will be sent with your quarterly statement by Nov. 14.

So what are you going to do with this enhanced fee information? Will you ignore it? Or will you take it seriously?

Its not reasonable to expect service providers to do this for free, but people are going to be shocked and outraged when they see how much they pay in fees, said Peter Kirtland, president and chief executive of ASPire Financial Services, which provides low-cost retirement plan solutions that can be customized.

The government says the new rules will reduce the time investors spend collecting fee information.

It would be great if most plan participants devoted time to analyzing fee information. They do not, according to AARP.

The advocacy group for seniors polled 800 workers with money in 401(k)s and asked them if they paid fees: Seventy-one percent said no. Yet all fund owners are compensated through fees for the costs of running the fund, says Don Blandin, president of Investor Protection Trust.

Read more from the original source:
Retirement fund fees, if ignored, will eat into your nest egg