Regular readers may have noted, even if subliminally, that I almost never post about an article appearing in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, or similar ubiquitous publications.  Why not?  Because I assume you've already seen it.

But rules are made to be broken (I seriously believe that; which is a good thing to know about me), and today's Journal has two related must-read's about negotiating for a better deal on the expenses of running your firm's 401(k) plan.  The first thing you need to know is that you may not know how much your 401(k) is costing.  This is because most fees are simply deducted from the 401(k)'s net asset value, meaning their practical effect is to reduce investment performance, and that number can require an expert to pin down.

Schulte-Roth saved $200,000 by, essentially, just asking.  I don't know about you, but to me that's real money.  And it obviously benefits the plan participants, too.