Rich Carreiro <rlcarr[at]animato.arlington.ma.us> writes:
- quote -

Nope - the "mutual fund window" generally refers to offering
access to all of the funds within one or more families. In
addition, some 401ks actually allow the use of a self-directed
brokerage account for a portion of one's 401k investment,
offering access to all that's available in that account.

ie. http://www.fundsinteractive.com/marla2.html
(look under "An Improving Picture")

or, from http://www.benefitslink.com/articles...ull040607.html
Furthermore, 10 percent of 401(k) plans in 2003 reported offering
either a selfdirected brokerage window or mutual fund window
option. The incidence of these window options has not changed much
since 2000, when 8 percent of sponsors offered either a
selfdirected brokerage window or mutual fund window.

or http://www.ima-net.org/publications/...mo_040501.html

You are still stuck, to a certain extent, to what the
employer gives one access to - restrictions on the
brokerage accounts available, or on the families of
funds in the "window", but these are *way* more open
then the 8 or 10 choices available directly within a
typical 401k.

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403b plans are going away in their current form. The IRS is going to require
a plan document, the 403b will look and act like the 401k.

Part of the reason is the 403b acts like a payroll deduction plan, that is a
person can over withhold the IRS maximum and recordkeeping is bad.
Participants also pay higher fees since in many plans it is treated as an
individual product instead of a group one.

<beliavsky[at]aol.com> wrote in message
news:1110555438.971345.206060[at]z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
- quote -

BreadWithSpam[at]fractious.net writes:

- quote -

When I search on that, I see articles about a self-directed brokerage
option being offered *within the employer's 401(k) plan*. So you're
still stuck with whatever broker the employer has chosen.

What I'm talking about is being able to completely withdraw funds from
the employer's plan and re-deposit them at a custodian of your own
choosing, even while still employed by that employer. I know that the
403(b) that teachers (and maybe other state/local govt employees) in
MA have allows them to do just that.

--
Rich Carreiro rlcarr[at]animato.arlington.ma.us

Rich Carreiro <rlcarr[at]animato.arlington.ma.us> writes:
- quote -

That's available within certain 401(k) plans already, too.

Do a search "mutual fund window"



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Are you posting responses that are easy for others to follow?
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Will Trice <wwtrice[at]paragondynamics.com> writes:

- quote -

I believe the author is referring to the ability to take 403(b) assets
out of the employer's plan altogether and move them to a custodian of
your own choosing -- while you're still employed.

--
Rich Carreiro rlcarr[at]animato.arlington.ma.us

beliavsky[at]aol.com wrote:

- quote -

Getting off the point of your post somewhat, don't many 401(k) plans
offer this? For example, my 401(k) plan allows me to transfer 90% of my
account to either a separate mutual fund account allowing me to by any
open ended mutual fund (as opposed to the the menu offered by my
employer), or a brokerage account where I can buy any available
security. Or is the author referring to something else?

-Will

Below is the beginning of the story. The pending IRS rule change looks
bad for the 6.8 million (according to the WSJ) 403(b) participants to
me -- perhaps they should mobilize against it through organizations
such as the National Education Association.

Investing Flexibility
That Teachers Enjoy
May Get 'F' From IRS

By KAREN DAMATO
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
March 11, 2005; Page C1

The retirement savings plans offered to teachers and employees of
charities, hospitals and other nonprofits have a feature that
participants in corporate 401(k)s might envy: Many teachers and
nonprofit workers can transfer their savings to investment portfolios
not on their employers' official menus.

But that option would be eliminated under a proposed rewriting of the
Internal Revenue Service's regulations for these programs, known as
403(b) plans, a much smaller cousin of corporate 401(k) plans.