I love Clint Eastwood movies and one favorite is “In The Line of Fire’. John Malkovich is playing a wannabe Presidential assassin named Leary and Clint is playing Frank Horrigan, the Secret Service agent who is trying to catch him. For me, my favorite scene is when Clint and John Malkovich are on the phone and John calls Clint’s character a friend.
Frank Horrigan: I know who you are – Leary.
Mitch Leary: I’m glad, Frank. Friends should be able to call each other by name.
Frank Horrigan: We’re not friends.
Mitch Leary: Sure we are.
Frank Horrigan: I’ve seen what you do to friends.
Mitch Leary: What’s that supposed to mean?
Frank Horrigan: You slit your friend’s throat.
While not the same thing is slitting a friend’s throat, it is amazing to me how large 401(k) providers handle the 401(k) plans of their employees. I can attest that as someone who worked for a third party administrator once, I can tell you that our 401(k) plan wasn’t very good. It’s kind of like the old adage about the cobbler’s children having no shoes.
There have been several large 401(k) providers who have been sued over their 401(k) plans. While a number of cases are outstanding at this moments, there have been several that have forked over millions as part of a settlement.
If these large plan providers overcharge their own employees, does that mean they do it for their “real” clients? That’s not for me to say, that’s for an independent review to find out.
