S. S. wrote:
- quote -

SS-
Sounds like Putnam is your plan custodian and while you might expect all
Putnam funds, it's not at all uncommon to have a mix from a bunch of
different fund companies. There's a law called "ERISA" that could make a
few people in the chain of decision-making liable if they went with
Putnam as custodian, and all Putnam funds - unless they had some good
reasons for doing so.

To find out the expenses for any of the funds offered in your 401k plan,
don't bother with Morningstar for the first cut - call your HR
department and ask for it. They are required to provide it to you and
most do so in a summary sheet listing out all the funds w/their basic
data, accompanied by the funds' prospectuses.

Your company is also paying some expenses for maintaining the 401k plan
(outside of the mutual fund expenses) so it's entirely possible that
your Vanguard fund fees will be very low, while Putnam isn't going broke.

-Tad

In article <559ac2fa.0408120438.6523c33e[at]posting.google.com> , S. S.
<sassysaser[at]yahoo.com> wrote:

- quote -

Most companies that offer mutual funds have become "funds supermarkets"
over the past decade. That is, they offer funds from all different
companies. They realize that people want choice, and that they will
pick someone else if they don't provide this choice.

There is likely to be a little additional fees by getting the
Vanguard funds this way, but since this is in your 401K, the benefits
of the 401K far outwiegh the impact of the fees.

In a perfect world, your employeer would have set up their 401K plan
directly with Vanguard, allowing you to get some of the best funds
at the best prices. The world isn't perfect, but it is tilted at
least a little bit in your direction. In general, Putnam funds have
been a disaster over the past 6 years, so having a choice outside
of Putnam is fantastic.

-john-

--
================================================== ==================
John A. Weeks III 952-432-2708 john[at]johnweeks.com
Newave Communications http://www.johnweeks.com
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I am making the decision for my retirement investment fund selection.
My company has Putnam as the investment carrier. Vanguard 500 Index is
one option in Putnam's offering, among a bunch of other funds, some
coming from Putnam itself. I think what confuses me is why Putnam
offers a Vanguard fund. My understanding is that Vanguard 500 Index is
managed by Vanguard, but not Putnam, right? So why does Putnam offer
its competitor's product? Well, actually that is not exactly what
concerns me. What I am really concerned is whether this kind of
arrangement will add another layer of cost to me. By that I mean if I
invest on Vanguard 500 Index through Vanguard directly (of course if
Vanguard is my company's investment carrier), won't that cost me less
than if I invest on Vanguard 500 Index through Putnam? I assume that
there will be additional costs when Vanguard 500 Index is sold by a
company other than Vanguard itself. I checked fees associated with
Vanguard 500 Index from morningstar.com, but the fees listed there
will not tell me how much the additional cost is for me to invest on
the fund from Putnam, is that right? If it is right, then where can I
find this information? What exact questions should I ask? Same story
for another investment carrier of my company, Lincoln Financial Group.
Its options are under something called "Multi-Fund Variable Annuity".
Within it, I see funds managed by Scudder, Fidelity, Janus, and etc.
Will it cost less if I invest on a Fidelity fund through Fidelity
directly? Thank you in advance for help!

S.S.