Small employers to get 401(k) fee disclosures

What you don't know about your retirement plan can hurt you.

If you work for a smaller company and have a 401(k), the fees associated with that plan can be very, very high. Right now, those fees are kept secret from you as an employee, and your employer may not even know they're getting ripped off by the plan administrator.

But come later this summer, a new requirement goes in place requiring disclosure of the fees. The insurance industry is fighting mad about the disclosure and may throw its money around Washington to fight this regulation. They've already delayed the disclosure date once before.

Let's assume when this requirement finally goes into effect that you get the disclosure and see you're being gouged on fees. What should you do?

• If there is no employer match, stop contributing and start doing your own Roth account.
• If there is a match, just contribute up to that match. Anything beyond that you should use to open a Roth.
• If you are the employer, shop around for a better plan for your employees. Look at Vanguard and Charles Schwab, among others. With technology, those providers can deliver the same kind of plan to you as a small employer as they might to a larger operation.