While the number of options available to 401k participants has risen over the past decade, these same retirement plan users may see their options start to shrink.
Data provided by consulting firm Aon Hewitt indicates that the median number of investment options available in these retirement plans has risen from 10 in 2001 to 18 currently available, MarketWatch reports.
Some companies are bucking this trend and starting to offer fewer options to their employees, according to the media outlet. The number of choices is dwindling because these firms are worried that all the options might make the retirement plan participants more likely to err.
“The thrill is gone with making every investment option available to people,” Mark Davis, senior vice president and financial adviser at CapTrust Financial Advisors, told the media outlet. “A lot of our clients are wanting to manage what their participants are exposed to in a much more aggressive way than they have in the past.”
Ted Benna, the so called “father of 401k,” has mirrored these concerns by saying that the retirement plan he created now offers too many options and increases the likelihood that 401k participants will make mistakes, according to MSN Money.
