4 Ways to Minimize 401k Fees

If you don't give much consideration to your 401k beyond picking the funds and watching the balance you're not alone. Most Americans surveyed by AARP aren't aware they are paying fees for their retirement funds at all.

According to Robert Hiltonsmith of Demos it's time to start looking at the fine print on your 401k plan. "On average people are going to lose about 30% of their retirement nest egg to fees," he explains in the attached video. By Demos' calculation that adds up to an average of $155,000 for median income two-earner families.

Now that he's got your attention, Hiltonsmith has four tips for minimizing those fees in order to maximize the benefits of your 401k retirement plan.

1) Utilize Your Employer Match

Most companies make matching contributions to 401k, at least up to a certain level. It's imperative that workers make sure they're getting largest possible participation from their employer. Over the long haul the benefit of maximizing company matching programs will more than offset the impact of hidden fees.

2) Choose Low Fee Funds

When choosing from the various fund options forget going with the hottest hand or best trailing returns. "Over the long horizon, over 30 years, you're going to get the highest returns just by picking the lowest fee plan," says Hiltonsmith.

Your fund choices will have the expense ratios outlined, or at least summarized. Pick the fund with the smallest price tag, even if the option sounds less sexy than some of the alternatives.

3) Consider an IRA

Too many people think a 401k is all they need for retirement. Not so fast. It may seem like wearing both belts and suspenders but Hiltonsmith says savvy investors have both an IRA and 401k.

Not only is too much savings never enough, a low-fee IRA can give investors a place to rollover their 401k's into lower fees as the option becomes available over time.

4) Talk to Your Employer About Plan Options

Don't just blindly plug your 401k contributions into the plan. Talk to your company's investment adviser to make sure you're optimizing the amount of money you'll eventually be able to take out of the plan.

This service is usually free and more than worth the time.

Finally Hiltonsmith suggests using a site like Brightscope.com to see if your retirement plan stacks up against those offered elsewhere. Some fees are unavoidable but it's imperative to know how your deal stacks up relative to others.

Don't wait until retirement before you realize how big a bite those seemingly small fees can take out of your nest egg!

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Audioseminar CD "Winning Methods of the Market Wizards" with Jack Schwager

Live Audio CD from Traders EXPO seminar by The renowned "Market Wizards" author and Trader's Hall of Fame award winner presents a powerful workshop highlighting the most common traits and techniques of the super traders. This rare session can help investors of all skill levels become market masters. Whether you're an active trader, or simply want a better understanding of how to succeed in today's markets, you'll benefit from the wisdom and insight of renowned "Trader's Hall of Fame" winner, Jack Schwager. Through his best selling "Market Wizards" books, Schwager has probed the minds of the world's most respected investors, studying their personal traits and learning the secret techniques that have turned them into investment role models. Now a professional investor and successful fund manager in his own right, Schwager shares his own secrets, along with those of his prominent "interviewees," in a powerful presentation. You'll master the fine art of trading as you discover and apply the key methods and traits shared by the world's most acclaimed traders. Find critical, yet often overlooked factors for understanding: - How to avoid losing faith during the bad periods - The dangers of overtrading - how to react when NO position is the right position - The importance of "self-analysis" for finding a trading method that fits your personality and goals - The real risk in volatility: Bailing out on the downswings - How to develop the habit of "disloyalty:" Why you must learn to change directions - and how to do it quickly - The power of patience: Opportunities are there, but it pays to wait for them Plus, developing discipline, good money management skills, and avoiding the risks inherent in second-guessing your own system.
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The Short-Term Trading Course with David Nassar including Fibonacci Sequences

MarketWise Trading School founder David Nassar is a trading maverick who entered the short-term trading arena years before it became standard practice. His best-selling How to Get Started in Electronic Day Trading book was one of the first short-term trading books. Now, he's put all his trading know-how into a 2-hour, power-packed presentation.

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Trading for a Living: Psychology, Trading Tactics, Money Management

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Trading for a Living helps you discipline your Mind, shows you the Methods for trading the markets, and shows you how to manage Money in your trading accounts so that no string of losses can kick you out of the game. To help you profit even more from the ideas in Trading for a Living, look for the companion volume--Study Guide for Trading for a Living. It asks over 200 multiple-choice questions, with answers and 11 rating scales for sharpening your trading skills. For example: Question Markets rise when
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* I and II
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Trials in Low-Rent Bastion in Silicon Valley

Apartment giant Equity Residential has run afoul of a working-class community at the northern end of Silicon Valley by trying to buy the area's largest complex of rent-controlled housing, which has been coveted by investors for years.

Equity Residential, whose chairman is Sam Zell, is negotiating to buy the Woodland Park Apartments, a 1,800-unit complex in East Palo Alto, Calif., that has remained a low-rent bastion in a region that has seen market-rate rentals soar. That upward pressure is expected to continue now that Facebook has chosen a 57-acre Menlo Park complex for its new headquarters, less than two miles from Woodland Park.

Ariel Zambelich for The Wall Street Journal The complex at 5 Newell Ave. is the largest in the stretch of Woodland Park properties in East Palo Alto.

The previous buyer of the complex, an investment group that acquired it during the boom years, planned to raise rents but ended up losing the property in a Wells Fargo & Co. foreclosure. Wells Fargo is in talks to sell the property to Equity Residential for an undisclosed sum, according to people familiar with the matter.

But city officials in East Palo Alto have voiced their opposition. A majority of the City Council has expressed "grave concerns with the bank's decision to sell the portfolio as a single unit," states a recent letter to Wells Fargo Chief Executive John Stumpf, from Carlos Romero, the city's mayor.

Equity Residential and Wells Fargo declined to comment.

City officials and residents don't want to give a single buyer too much control over such a large amount of East Palo Alto's rental housing. While the units are subject to rent control, officials are concerned that Equity Residential would raze some of them and build higher buildings filled with market-rate apartments.

The potential deal "scares this community to death," Mayor Romero said.

The maneuvering over Woodland Park comes as apartment rents are rising throughout most of the U.S. Despite the softness of the overall economy, landlords have been benefiting from the housing crisis, which has turned millions of would be home-owners into renters.

With rents and occupancies rising, the values of apartment buildings have soared. While the biggest increases have been in upscale areas, investors also have begun to spill over into lower-rent areas like East Palo Alto.

Woodland Park includes an older assortment of apartments and homes. Rents currently range from $800 to $1,400 a month, and this year, landlords were limited to a 1.4% increase, said William Byron Webster, senior member of the East Palo Alto Rent Stabilization Board.

Mr. Webster says many residents couldn't afford to live in the surrounding area. In the third quarter, market-rate rents in the region were a median of $1,588, well above the national $1,004 median, according to Reis Inc. In one of Equity Residential's Palo Alto communities, one-bedroom apartments start at $2,065, according to its website.

Just 2.6% of East Palo Alto's units are vacant, well below the national 5.6% rate, leaving few apartments up for grabs and creating competition for the ones that are available.

Woodland Park was acquired during the boom years in a series of transactions by investors led by Page Mill Properties, which put a $240 million mortgage from Wells Fargo on the property. The deal was embarrassing to one of the investors, pension giant Calpers, which subsequently said it would prohibit excessive rent increases and the "involuntary displacement" of low-income households in its real-estate investments.

City officials believe that Equity Residential's interest in the site stems partly from the Facebook deal. "I have suggested [Facebook CEO Mark] Zuckerberg could be appealed to discourage his employees from settling on the east side of Palo Alto," says Mr. Webster

Local leaders acknowledge they probably can't stop the sale. But they say they'll do what they can to block any redevelopment that Equity Residential might attempt.

The new tax revenue that would result from improving the property wouldn't be worth the displacement, they say.

"We may get a community center, we may get repaved streets, but our residents who are around today would not be around to enjoy those improved community amenities," Mayor Romero said. "And that would be a travesty."

Write to Dawn Wotapka at dawn.wotapka@dowjones.com

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Turmeric likely to decline on higher arrivals

Last Updated : November 03, 2011 10:11

MUMBAI (Commodity Online): Turmeric rates fell in the Spot and the futures markets as lower demand amidst moderate arrivals kept pressurizing the market sentiments. Prospects of demand rising in coming weeks could limit the downtrend however.

Traders expect the trend to remain volatile in the short term as improved production prospects and higher stocks could keep the prices under check to some extent.

Rains in growing areas in Andhra Pradesh and other nearby states have been pressurizing prices in apprehension of better crop prospects. Improved arrivals in AP have kept further pressure on the prices.

Good Monsoon reports in AP has reportedly keeping the sowing activities proper. The area sown would however depend on market rates and if falling trend continues, traders expect the sowing area may fall as farmers may shift to other lucrative crops like cotton, soybean etc.

The total production this year is expected to touch 75-85 lakh bags (1 bag-75kg) - higher than the 65-70 lakh bags in 2010-11. Higher acre-age from the high rates is stated the reason for the rise in expected production as per traders.

Good stocks and increased selling pressure along with weak demand in the mandis have kept trend weak for the commodity over the last few weeks. The sowing period is from June-August and harvesting begins in January.

Exports that had remained low are however expected to rise in coming weeks from Europe, US, West Asia and Japan.

Latest reports from Spice Board of India indicates the expected Turmeric exports for the period April-August 2011 have risen by 52% to 36,500 MT in 2011 from 24,000 MT in 2010 same period.

Courtesy: Religare Commodities

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