"A business with 25 employees would be looking at a first-year fee of $3,500 (including $500 for compliance testing), then $2,750 per year (including one annual compliance test), verses $7,500 and up for an administered plan...."
"Jim Gilbert, for one, thinks that price is still outrageous....I've been in the 401(k) business 15 years and it has always been very obvious to me that the industry, to its own benefit, has overcomplicated the whole 401(k) experience for the end user," he says. "This isn't brain surgery!"
"Last summer, Gilbert launched an Internet solution of his own, 401(k) Easy, a software program that allows small businesses to set up and administer their own 401(k) plans for less than $1,000. The software can be downloaded from the Web site for a test drive at no cost. While Gilbert admits, "This is not a Ferrari 401(k); this is a Volkswagen," it does give small business affordable access to the Rolls-Royce of pension plans...."
