Your 401k Plan Sponsor May Be Choosing Investments Wrong

Most 401k participants assume their plan's investment menu is built by objective experts. But many plan sponsors—often HR directors or CFOs with no investment training—rely on advice from brokers who collect hidden revenue-sharing payments. In this episode, Lucas and Luna examine a 2019 study from the National Bureau of Economic Research showing that 401k plans advised by brokers who receive revenue-sharing fees underperform plans advised by fiduciaries by about 0.4 to 1.0 percentage points annually. They walk through how these conflicts work, why fee disclosures rarely make them visible, and what the Department of Labor's 2024 fiduciary rule means for participants. One concrete takeaway: check whether your plan's advisor is a registered investment adviser or a broker-dealer—the difference can cost you tens of thousands of dollars over a career. #401k #RetirementPlans #PlanSponsor #FiduciaryRule #RevenueSharing #BrokerConflict #InvestmentFees #DOL #NBER #ParticipantEducation #FeeDisclosure #Finance #PersonalFinance #Retirement #Investing #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #The401kPodcast Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo