The "401k Help" section of FundAdvice.com is intended to help you understand your retirement plan investment options, and show you the best way to allocate your portfolio based on your own risk tolerance and investment goals. We offer model 401(k) plans for employees at many prominent companies, and we'll even show you how you can improve your plan by requesting the addition of index funds as investment options.
All this information is free, and we hope you will share it with your co-workers!
401k Help Explanation
Merriman applies the same investment philosophy used in the management of our clients' investments to the selection of funds within 401(k) plans. Ideally, we would recommend a portfolio comprised of low cost index funds. The equity component would be equally weighted between domestic and international stocks. The domestic and international stock allocations would each have an overweight in value and small cap stocks. There would be an allocation to both domestic and international REITs. The fixed income portion would be allocated among intermediate term, short term, and inflation protected U.S. government securities.
In practice, 401(k) plans may not offer mutual funds representing all the asset classes we think are appropriate. When selecting mutual funds from a 401(k) plan, we emphasize the lower cost mutual funds within the favored asset classes or their closest substitutes and will then increase the weighting of the chosen funds to compensate for asset classes not represented in the plan. Allocations may be adjusted based on the tradeoff between the expense ratio of the fund and the representative asset class.
If you are having difficulty contacting the employer that sponsored a
plan in which you participated, you can contact the Employee Benefits
Security Administration at 202-693-8630, or at http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/aboutebsa/main.html
401kHelp.com is an independent information resource dedicated to helping individuals with their investment choices. This is a service of Merriman.
We are not affiliated with any 401(k) plan, employer, or plan administrator. 401kHelp.com cannot assist participants in obtaining benefits.
Individual account information is available to plan participants through the plan sponsor or the plan administrator. We cannot obtain this information on your behalf.
Why we do this
Merriman is a Registered Investment Advisor with over $1 billion under management, and many of our clients are employed by companies listed to the right. We’re often asked to review 401(k) plans to recommend asset allocations with the best investment options offered.
We’re pleased to make this information more widely available in the hope that you will consider working with us to help you achieve your financial goals.
Besides advising those working toward retirement, we also advise retirees in the distribution of their assets.
If you find the information on this web site helpful, please tell a friend or colleague.
This information is provided by Merriman, Inc., a registered investment advisor, and is believed to be from reliable sources, but no guarantee is made as to accuracy or completeness thereof. The investment securities and strategies discussed are not suitable for all investors. Recommendations are of a general nature, not based on knowledge of any individual's specific needs or circumstances, and there is no intent to provide individual investment advisory, supervisory or management services. Unless otherwise noted, all reported or projected results (1) assume reinvestment of interest and dividends; (2) are net of any applicable management fees and transaction costs; and (3) do not reflect any effect of taxes. Past returns, whether actual or hypothetical, are not indicative of future results, which will be different from those of the past.
