United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 2007-03-06 monographic deposited born digital 24 p. GA 1.13:GAO-07-530T https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-07-530T P0b002ee1803a3e7c f:d07530t DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-23 GAOREPORTS-GAO-07-530T machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-GAO-07-530T GAO-07-530T 401(k) plans Assets Employee retirement plans Fees Financial disclosure Funds management Information disclosure Investment planning Pensions Private sector Reporting requirements Retirement Stocks (securities) Strategic planning Testimony A66485 Over the past two decades there has been a noticeable shift in the types of plans employers are offering employees. Employers are increasingly moving away from traditional defined benefit plans to what has become the most dominant and fastest growing type of defined contribution plan, the 401(k). As more workers participate in 401(k) plans, they bear more of the responsibility for funding their retirement. Given the choices facing participants, specific information about the plan and plan options becomes more relevant than under defined benefit plans because participants are responsible for ensuring that they have adequate income at retirement. While information on historical performance and investment risk for each plan option are important for participants to understand, so too is information on fees because fees can significantly decrease participants' retirement savings over the course of a career. As a result of employees bearing more responsibility for funding their retirement under 401(k) plans, Congress asked us to talk about the prevalence of 401(k) plans today and to summarize our recent work on providing better information to 401(k) participants and the Department of Labor (Labor) on fees. GAO's remarks today will focus on (1) trends in the use of 401(k) plans, and (2) the types of fees associated with these plans. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-07-530T/html/GAOREPORTS-GAO-07-530T.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-07-530T/pdf/GAOREPORTS-GAO-07-530T.pdf GAO-07-530T https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-07-530T Testimony GAO-07-530T; Private Pensions: Increased Reliance on 401(k) Plans Calls for Better Information on Fees; 401(k) plans Assets Employee retirement plans Fees Financial disclosure Funds management Information disclosure Investment planning Pensions Private sector Reporting requirements Retirement Stocks (securities) Strategic planning