I posted here last week asking for a checkup on my financial situation and got some great advice, which I am starting to implement slowly. One user mentioned looking into whether my school district (my employer) offered a 457b plan and focusing on that over my 403b. I asked HR about it, and we do have one, but it's run through Voya. I looked into the terms last year and there are very high fees. It's over 1% just to hold the account itself plus an S&P500 index.
Our district has contract negotiations coming up next year. I asked a colleague about what the process would be like for lobbying the district to offer a second company to manage the 457 plans that wasn't exhorbitantly expensive.
My colleague asked our union rep, and the response surprised me. According to our union rep, employees can use any company they want, but need to contact them independently, and that Voya is the one the district uses to help people who don't know what to do to get into the program.
This seems ... suspect. I started looking into inquiring whether I could independently start a 457 plan with Fidelity, Vanguard, TIAA, and what the terms would be like, but you can't look at any terms if your employer isn't on their list. And my employer is not on their lists.
My questions are:
1. Is this normal? My understanding is that employers sign contracts or whatever with different financial institutions, and only offer accounts through them.
2. If it IS normal, who should I reach out to? I tried calling Fidelity Net Benefits today for some preliminary information, but it seemed like you need an account with them to get through.
As an afterthought, if what my union rep claimed IS too good to be true, I am happy with my 403b plan so it's not a huge deal. Just trying to optimize where I can...
Our district has contract negotiations coming up next year. I asked a colleague about what the process would be like for lobbying the district to offer a second company to manage the 457 plans that wasn't exhorbitantly expensive.
My colleague asked our union rep, and the response surprised me. According to our union rep, employees can use any company they want, but need to contact them independently, and that Voya is the one the district uses to help people who don't know what to do to get into the program.
This seems ... suspect. I started looking into inquiring whether I could independently start a 457 plan with Fidelity, Vanguard, TIAA, and what the terms would be like, but you can't look at any terms if your employer isn't on their list. And my employer is not on their lists.
My questions are:
1. Is this normal? My understanding is that employers sign contracts or whatever with different financial institutions, and only offer accounts through them.
2. If it IS normal, who should I reach out to? I tried calling Fidelity Net Benefits today for some preliminary information, but it seemed like you need an account with them to get through.
As an afterthought, if what my union rep claimed IS too good to be true, I am happy with my 403b plan so it's not a huge deal. Just trying to optimize where I can...
Statistics: Posted by dav8604 — Fri Jun 07, 2024 2:45 pm — Replies 6 — Views 375