<<I cannot stand the paternalistic attitude of some 401(k) managers that fear their participants cannot be trusted to manage their own investments.... If it is because the administrators get kickbacks from the mutual fund companies, they should be fired and perhaps imprisoned for breach of fiduciary duty.

In any case, I strongly suggest agitating, through your union if you have one, to get a self-directed option added to the list of strategies. I know nothing about the funds in your list, but if they are like those in the plan of a friend of mine, they are probably mediochre.>>

Jean-David's post brought up this story to mind. File this one under "I" for ironic. (Really ironic, that is, not Alanis-Morrissette-ironic.) In the _Washington Post_ today, 25 Aug 1997, there was a story on how well the Federal Thrift Program was doing. (The FTP being the U.S. government employees' equivalent of the 401k.) Currently the FTP offers a stock-index fund, a bond index fund, and guaranteed investment contracts. The FTP has been so successful they're thinking of adding an international-stock fund and a small-company fund to the mix.

Hooda thunk the guvmint would have one of the better-run retirement plans in America? Huh.

Dave