The Incredible Shrinking Plan Provider Fee

I had a co-worker who got a competing job offer a few years back. He went to our boss and told him that he was leaving for a competitor, returning to a company he had left for this one.  So he told the boss he was leaving and the boss convinced my friend to stay by matching his salary with the job offer. I thought that it was a mistake and if I was in his shoes, I would never do that for two reasons. Number 1 was because it showed disloyalty and reason number 2 was the fact that if this miser boss offered more money, he always had that money to give but wouldn’t unless forced.

The same thing can be said about retirement plan providers who when challenged that their fees are excessive by a competitor, lower their fees for their clients in a panic. I’m surprised when I am told by these competing providers that the client stays with the plan provider that quickly cut their fees. While retirement plan providers can cut their fees from time to time because of new programs or lowered costs, the fact that they do so quickly when a competing provider is snooping always gets me a little suspicious. My suspicion is that the fees were always excessive and that while the fees are now lower, the plan provider still had pocketed those fees for all those previous years.  Would you go back to a provider that you knew charged you more than they should have? I wouldn’t., but some plan sponsors and like to be taken advantage of. Just my two cents.

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