Has John Oliver got you worried about investment fees? You should be. And you should have been before.

Yes, but I elected for e-delivery and cannot find any prospectus for the fund in my inbox. I finally got off the phone (whole ordeal took just under 60 minutes, mostly on hold). Here's what I ultimately ended up with:

  • Contact info of the plan broker
  • 404a-5 Plan & Investment notice which contains cryptic (to me) info about plan fees, expenses, performance and comparative options

Here's an interesting excerpt from the investment notice:

Your plan has engaged John Hancock to provide record-keeping services such as educational resources, transaction processing, an investment platform, quarterly statements and website tools. Charges for these services that are otherwise deducted from your account, are currently waived. In the future, if the conditions for the waiver are not met, charges* for these services will be deducted** from your account and will appear on your quarterly benefit statements.

*Charges may fluctuate based on the total assets in the plan, according to a pre-set fee schedule and other conditions agreed to by your plan sponsor and John Hancock.

**Deducted charges will occur on a pro-rata or per participant basis. Percentage-based expenses are annual charges which will be converted to a monthly rate and applied to your month-end account balance (i.e. calculated on a 'pro-rata' basis). Dollar-based expenses are annual amounts which will be converted to a monthly charge unless specified otherwise (i.e. calculated on a 'per participant' basis).

If you have any questions, please contact your plan sponsor.

I am really confused now. The fund's expense ratio is 1.46% and when I asked about a detailed breakdown of what amounts to the fund's expenses, I was told to contact the plan broker to find that out. Here's a snapshot of info about the fund found in that document.

Is it actually true all fees on the account are being waived? What are the "conditions for the waiver" and will they be broken in the future?

Regardless, I was really disappointed in the service provided by John Hancock; it wasn't until I got a supervisor on the phone after around 50 minutes of nonsense that I finally started to get some questions answered. And still I am just kind of jaw-dropped that they are waiving all my fees (apparently).

/r/personalfinance Thread Parent