Compliance September 20, 2012

EBSA Releases Fee Disclosure Resource for Participants

September 20, 2012 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – The Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) launched a website that offers information about fee disclosures to help workers with defined contribution (DC) retirement plans.

Reported by

Kristen Heinzinger

The site helps workers see what they are paying in fees and also includes tips and tools for making retirement investment decisions.

“Workers deserve to know how much they are paying for their retirement investments,” Assistant Secretary of Labor for EBSA Phyllis C. Borzi said. “Fees can eat away at retirement savings. Access to good information can lead to an increase of tens—even hundreds-of-thousands of dollars—in retirement savings over the course of a career.”

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According to EBSA, research has shown that paying just 1% more in fees can lead to a 28% decrease in a 401(k) account balance over the course of a career.

An EBSA webinar recording about how to utilize the new fee disclosures is available at http://s.dol.gov/WM.

Workers in employer-sponsored health and retirement benefit plans who have questions about benefits laws can contact an EBSA benefits adviser at http://www.askebsa.dol.gov or 866-444-EBSA (3272).