Here's how to make clients’ retirement nest eggs last longer

(Bloomberg) — Freedom of choice can feel like more of a burden than a benefit when figuring out what to do with a 401(k) after leaving a job or retiring. Should clients let retirement funds stay at an old company (if an ex-employer lets them), roll it into a new company’s plan, or stash it in an IRA?

With the average worker changing jobs every 4.6 years and 10,000 baby boomers turning 65 daily, the decision is one many people face multiple times over a career. It’s a big deal because fees are the silent killer of investment returns; and fees in 401(k)s and IRAs vary greatly.

If have clients in a low-fee plan that has more than $1 billion in assets and offers a good selection of index funds and target-date funds on top of actively managed funds, staying put may be a good option. A company savings plan will have more built-in investment safeguards than a wide-open IRA, as well as options like stable value funds clients can’t find outside the plan.

Plan investment menus and fees differ a lot even within plans of similar size, however. And funds in an old 401(k) may not be the best ones for clients. Also, keeping money in a bunch of old 401(k) plans adds layers of fees.

Here are some guidelines and benchmarks to help you figure out the best home for clients’ money.

The returns 

A recent study found that defined contribution plans, such as 401(k)s, had higher long-term investment returns than IRAs. Defined contribution plans had an average geometric return of 3.1 percent from 2000 to 2012, according to research by Alicia Munnell and others at the Center for Retirement Research. A lot of money in 401(k)s, the study noted, gets rolled over into IRAs, which had a return of 2.2 percent. 

Part of the reason for those lower returns is probably due to the 11 percent of assets that traditional IRAs had in money market funds; defined contribution plans had about 4 percent in the funds.

The fees

Some of that return gap, though, comes from higher fees on products in IRAs. Some advisers are better compensated for selling investments with higher fees. They may favor actively managed mutual funds or more complex investments over lower-cost index funds or exchange-traded funds, for example.

Over 30 years, conflicted advice can cause a retiree who rolls over 401(k) money into an IRA to lose an estimated 12 percent of savings, according to a 2015 study (PDF) by President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers (CEA). Absent that financial toll, the same account would last five additional years, the study concluded.

How much is too much in fees? In general, investment fees in big plans shouldn’t top 1 percent. The asset-weighted expense ratio on a domestic equity mutual fund in a 401(k) was, on average, 0.54 percent in 2013, according to a report from BrightScope and the Investment Company Institute. For plans with $1 billion or more in assets, it was 0.44 percent. The equity index fund average is about 0.13 percent.