I recently received a "offer" from the folks who maintain my employer's 401(k) plan. It seems, for a fee, someone can help me manage the money stashed away in the plan. The offer has large headlines, bright colors.. it's screaming: you need us to help you! Their big pitch says:
Based on our records:
You will need $X per year in retirement. (where X is an amount I'm not disclosing publicly. The letter had an actual amount)
Based on your current savings rate, you will have $X + $2,000 per year in retirement.
If we manage your account, you could expect $X - 10,000 per year in retirement.
So... if I read this correctly (and I read it several times because I couldn't believe this was actually sent to me):
A. At my current savings rate, I will have more than I need per year in retirement (not that they tell me what age they are using as my retirement age or how long they estimate I'll live).
B. If I allow them to manage the account, I will have $10,000 less PER YEAR of retirement.
Even better was the bar chart on the following page showing the same statistics. Visual proof of their ineptitude.
Holy need an data reviewer before spending a ton of money to send out color brouchures, Batman.
