According to a recent survey, more than 70% of participants in 401(k) retirement plans think they pay no fees on their accounts. Less than a quarter got the answer right, acknowledging that they do, in fact, pay fees.
It’s enough to drive true-blue Vanguard investors to despair. But before we give up entirely on our fellow investors, I’d like to suggest that there are some important issues here at play.
Just saw this—Linda Stern punches holes in some of the more common misconceptions about retirement:
Stern Advice: Busting retirement myths
What she has to say lines up well with my own observations and thoughts. What about you?
With a new year well underway, at Vanguard our attention is turning to IRAs, 401(k)s, and tax planning. This year, I, like a lot of others, seem to have Roth IRAs on the brain.
Now that Roth IRA conversions are available to people who previously hadn’t been eligible, there’s been quite a spike in coverage. However, the spotlight should probably be focused more on those who can have a Roth, but as yet do not. Read more »
The issues aren’t quite the same as those one faces when considering the deepest aspects of personal faith and religious doctrine, but a “Roth conversion” can pose some difficult issues for investors nonetheless. And we’re going to hear much more about this going forward because of a scheduled change in the law: Unless something unexpected happens in D.C., come 2010 there will no longer be income limits on Roth IRA conversions.
There will be a lot written on the issue of whether one should convert or not, as well as endless articles describing all kinds of “strategies” to potentially leverage the change (some legitimate and others more questionable). For me, three things are important in considering this kind of “conversion”:
