[Ben]

Does anyone understand 401k management? Why are they allowed to just change your investments. My work has vanguard.

We have limited selections already and then they change what the ticker id is.

Also I have noticed with other employees that they have different ticker ID for people of different ages.

Perhaps why mine changed but I don’t primarily invest in a target year fund(although those have different id for different age groups as well) ie viiix and vinix.

The share price is the same but the market cap is different. How do I find what they are changing when they change my fund group id?

I’ve seen at least 3 different ID’s for target year 2050 funds as well.

Also does anyone understand which rules are set by employer vs the management company as they have a 25% income max contribution and for many that does not get you to the fed maximum contribution. Is this employer or manager set?

[Sarah]

The max is set by the employer, the majority of rules and changes are also set by the employer.

Sometimes the investments change because they move you into a similar fund with a better cost structure.

Your employer or the retirement company can tell you.

[Jason]

I work with 401(k) plans and these sorts of changes happen all the time for various reasons.

Sometimes the plans advisor makes a recommendation for the change to reduce fees or one fund might be getting replaced due to underperforming.

Sometimes the plan changes the advisor which can result in the entire investment lineup changing (not familiar with why exactly, but it seems like sometimes the advisor is partnered with a paricular fund company or has to use particular type of fund depending on their compensation model or something along those lines).

Sometimes it’s a change on the investment company’s end.

They often close funds entirely and any assets within the fund get merged with another, similar, fund.

People of different ages would get mapped to different target date funds as someone else mentioned.

All that to say, this is completely normal and if you don’t like what they’re moving you into you should be able to select another allocation from the funds available in the plan yourself.

[Author]

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