Looking for Advice on the best Trading Company
We are a small company with 6 employees and do profit sharing 401K benefits to the employees...
What I am looking for is good companies that give the individuals the ability to control how their money is invested...
Any recommendations????
Well most investment professionals consider this a bad idea since most individuals are just not good at trading their own money. Not saying you guys are in this category, but this is why most companies let the pros manage them.
But do a quick google search on "individual directed accounts" know as IDA's. A few 401k plan providers allow this type of account.
Check out this government website with some great links on small business 401k's:
In my post-college working career I've experienced 3 different employers - two of them being in the investments/financial services industry. I'd say all leave something to be desired when it comes to 401k plan selection.
My understanding is that it is less about the provider and more about the fund selections the board makes, and surprisingly the boards of these financial firms haven't made the best selections in my opinion. I have no idea if there is a different fee structure based on selection but the best of the 401k plans I ever experienced - hint it's not the current one - had more index funds (cheaper) than managed funds (more expensive) and the index fund options were essentially by style class e.g.) small-cap value, small-cap growth, large-cap value, large-cap growth, a money market fund, an investment grade bond fund etc.
In closing, I've experience Fidelity, Hartford, and Schwab and all seemed sufficient with the bigger issue being the fund choices the board of trustees of the company approved. However, Schwab offered a self-directed brokerage plan where you could 'manage' your 401k. I never applied for it after reviewing the plan since it seemed that moving money from the 401k to the self-directed account was kind of a hassle and there were trading commissions etc. But if you like the idea Schwab offered one a few years ago.
In closing, I've experience Fidelity, Hartford, and Schwab and all seemed sufficient with the bigger issue being the fund choices the board of trustees of the company approved. However, Schwab offered a self-directed brokerage plan where you could 'manage' your 401k. I never applied for it after reviewing the plan since it seemed that moving money from the 401k to the self-directed account was kind of a hassle and there were trading commissions etc. But if you like the idea Schwab offered one a few years ago.
PS: one option you may want to consider is offering both a traditional 401k option with pre-tax contributions to the plan and a also offering a Roth 401k with the advantages of post-tax contributions. Several people I work/worked with like the Roth 401k option but personally I like lowering my AGI via the traditional 401k and may my post-tax contributions to my Roth IRA.