Your 401(k) Giveaway

¿ Ask questions. Talk to the benefits office at your place of employment and ask about any fees associated with your investment choices. Then compare the fees of various funds similar to the ones you have selected.

¿ If you see that the fees are high, complain to your employer. Ask your employer to review the fees and fight for a switch to an investment company offering lower costs.

¿ Curb the fees by limiting hardship withdrawals or the loans you take out on your retirement account. This, of course, means you have to save -- you don't want to use your retirement account as your emergency money.

¿ Consider investing in no-load mutual funds in your company-sponsored retirement plan.

¿ Consider index funds. These funds have lower costs and are composed of stocks that mirror a certain index, such as the S&P 500.

I know. I'm telling you one more annoying thing you have to do. But the burden shouldn't be entirely on plan participants. We are entitled to a simple way to determine what we are being charged. How about something akin to when we go to the store? When we buy a shirt or a box of cereal, a price tag clearly marks what we are going to be charged.

The same should be true for the price we pay for the funds we select for our retirement portfolio. AARP has urged EBSA to require better fee disclosure by plan administrators.

This summer, Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) introduced the 401(k) Fair Disclosure for Retirement Security Act of 2007. The legislation would require plan administrators to disclose, in clear and simple terms, all fees charged to plan participants each year.

The bottom line is that fees do matter. There has to be a concerted effort by government and the companies sponsoring these plans to create better transparency and disclosure of fees.

¿ On the air: Michelle Singletary discusses personal finance Tuesdays on NPR's "Day to Day" program and online athttp://www.npr.org.She also has a personal finance call-in show that airs Sundays on XM Satellite Radio, Channel 169 "The Power," from 8 to 10 p.m.

¿ By mail: Readers can write to her at The Washington Post, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071.

¿ By e-mail:singletarym@washpost.com.

Comments and questions are welcome, but because of the volume of mail, personal responses are not always possible. Please note that comments or questions may be used in a future column, with the writer's name, unless a specific request to do otherwise is indicated.