Retirement Savings Options, Part II
Tip It!I wrote yesterday about my options when it comes to choosing a retirement plan at my new job. I’m still leaning toward the defined contribution plan — in fact, I’ve all but made up my mind. This brings me to my next big decision…
Who do I want to use as a plan administrator. Before I go any further, let me just say that I love Vanguard. Our Roth IRAs are at Vanguard, and my old 403(b) was held at Vanguard. We have traditionally invested in a mix of index funds, including the Total Stock Market Index (VTSMX), Total Bond Market Index (VBMFX), European Stock Index (VEURX) and Pacific Stock Index (VPACX). More recently, we started using a mix of the Target Retirement 2035 (VTTHX) and Target Retirement 2045 (VTIVX) funds in our Roth IRAs — these funds are made up of the four aforementioned index funds, but they were not available through my employer’s plan.
Anyway, the problem that I’m facing right now is that Vanguard is no longer an option. Rather, I have to choose from:
- American Century
- Fidelity
- TIAA-CREF
- VALIC
I have yet to investigate these options, but off the top of my head I’m guessing that Fidelity (or possibly TIAA-CREF) will be most likely to suit our needs.
I’ll post more on this topic as I have time to investigate further. But in the mean time, can anyone out there provide any insight?
See also: Retirement Savings Options, Part I
Published on September 7th, 2006 - 2 Comments
Filed under: Retirement, Saving & Investing, Taxes
About the author: Nickel is the founder and editor-in-chief of this site. He's a thirty-something family man who has been writing about personal finance since 2005, and guess what? He's on Twitter!
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September 7th, 2006 at 7:14 am
Fidelity offers their Freedom Funds, which are similar to the Vanguard Target Retirement funds. The expense ratio is higher – looking at the 2035 fund (FFTHX) its 0.75% at Fidelity, which doesn’t seem bad until you compare it to the 0.21% for Vanguard. However if Vanguard isn’t available it might be a good alternative.
September 8th, 2008 at 5:23 pm
I work at an academic institution where we are offered a choice between TIAA-CREF and Fidelity. As soon as Fidelity came on board here as an option, I moved everything I could out of TIAA-CREF. I’m not sure if it’s the way our institution deals with TIAA or if TIAA itself is to blame but I had MAJOR problems with funds not being deposited into my accounts as I specified and a TON of trouble trying to set things right. I have not had these problems with Fidelity since I switched. (I too am a Vanguard fan and have a Roth IRA and a traditional rollover IRA with them.)