If you have a 401(k) chances are you're getting ripped off and you don't even know it.
With all of the associated 401(k) fees, the truth is you could be losing as much as 33% of your retirement nest egg to the financial advisors who run your plan.
Typically, these fees are completely buried in your 401(k) statement-- and even if you do manage to find out how much they are, the fees won't seem like much at first glance.
But overtime, the fees can literally cost you a small fortune.
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Retirement savings aren't delivering enough for us to live on after we stop working. It's not just that we aren't doing the right calculations; it's also that we aren't always using the right tools. 401(k)s and pension plans aren't cutting it anymore.
Americans' dreams of the "golden years" have increasingly become tarnished by harsh financial realities.
Indeed, a new survey of U.S. employees and retirees presents a disturbing portrait of the retirement crisis - among both current workers and retirees.
Longer life expectancies, stagnant wages and the uncertainty surrounding Social Security benefits have made it harder than ever to save enough to live comfortably in retirement.
The 23rd annual Retirement Confidence Survey by the non-profit, non-partisan Employee Benefit Research Institute - which polls both workers and retirees -found only 13% of American workers and 18% of retirees are "very confident" they have or will have enough money to retire comfortably. And 49% of workers said they are either "not at all" or "not too" confident they will have enough money to enjoy retirement.
"Not only do workers lack confidence about their ability to secure a financially secure retirement overall, but more and more, they lack confidence in their ability to pay for medical expenses and even basic expenses such as food, clothing and shelter," Jack VanDerhi, research director at EBRI, said in a statement.
These statistics show just how difficult it has become for Americans to save enough for retirement.
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Millions of Americans are going down a dangerous slope with their retirement savings.
More than one in four employees with 401(k) or other retirement accounts are tapping into those funds to pay mortgages, credit card debt and other bills, financial advisory firm HelloWallet said in a new report out this week.
Most of those dipping into their retirement funds before age 59½ are doing so because they are struggling to get by. American families average only $4,000 in savings accounts.
But dipping into retirement savings comes with a heavy price - and many of those who do so fail to realize the consequences, including IRS penalties and income tax on early withdrawals as well as any taxes on investment gains.
"Workers are now broadly voting with their wallets and demonstrating that they need retirement savings for non-retirement needs, in spite of the large, punitive penalties that are associated with most of that withdrawal activity," HelloWallet said in the report.
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