401(k) accounts amount to an enormous subsidy for the financial industry. The whole system is structured to discourage competition and funnel money to the largest financial services companies, because employers require you to use a specific company with a limited choice of investment options. Health insurance being tied to employment causes similar problems there. OWS should be rallying against stuff like this instead of police brutality, which seems like the current focus.
This. This is the real rigging: your company doesn't care what fees your 401(k) charges you. They'll give you an S&P500 index fund with a 1.2% expense ratio. Given that you can get that for 0.06% elsewhere, you can bet that a good chunk of the rest is yacht money.
Fortunately, you can roll over your 401(k) to an IRA when you change jobs. Vanguards' ain't too shabby. Or pick a brokerage and get your own stocks. You don't need to care about a high-frequency traders' 30-second impact on the market if you're not selling your portfolio for 30 years.
