401k Investment Options

With 401k Easy Online, you have complete discretion over the investments offered within your 401k plan. We have no bundled, pre-set investment mix.

Basically, if the IRS says it's OK to receive 401k contributions, you can likely offer it within your 401k Easy Online 401k plan. All of the following are possibilities; free help is available with understanding your options.

• Self-Directed Brokerage Accounts
  Self-directed brokerage accounts offer your 401k plan participants an immense array of potential investments both in terms of type (mutual fund, stock, bond, etc.) as well as investments within that type. The accounts are popular among people who have ready access to the Internet, who like to take an active role in their 401k investing and who are not intimidated by a wide array of possibilities.
  
  With 401k Easy Online, you can choose among popular self-directed brokerage account providers such as Cigna Financial Services and Fidelity Investments. To access a database of potential self-directed brokerage account providers, click here (drag the lower right of the window to enlarge your view).
• No-Load Mutual Funds
  Mutual funds are the most popular type of 401k investment (see our main Investments page for some reasons why; click here to go to that text now). No-load funds are particularly popular due to their fee construction (for a definition of a no-load mutual fund, click here open our 401k Glossary in its own window).
  
  Self-directed brokerage accounts give investors access to mutual funds, but some people have little to no interest in anything but mutual funds and find the additional options available with self-directed brokerage accounts superfluous. They prefer sticking simply to no-load mutual funds and no-load institutional mutual funds.
  
  With 401k Easy Online, your company can select an entire company's offering of SEC regulated no-load mutual fund families (including no-load institutional mutual funds) for your 401k plan. Families are available from known, trusted providers such as Dreyfus, Eaton Vance, and Vanguard. Each family gives your employees a more concise yet amply diverse 401k investment selection. See below under "For More Information..." for precise listings.
• Load Mutual Funds
  For many of the same reasons as those listed above for why some people prefer no-load mutual funds (including no-load institutional mutual funds) to self-directed brokerage accounts as their 401k options, people with investment advisors often prefer load mutual funds (for a definition of a load mutual fund, click here open our 401k Glossary in its own window).
  
  With 401k Easy Online, your company can select an entire company's offering of SEC regulated load mutual fund families for your 401k plan. Families are available from known, trusted providers such as John Hancock, MFS and Putnam. Each family gives your employees an amply diverse 401k investment selection. See below under "For More Information..." for precise listings.
• Stocks
  You can offer stocks - including your company's listed stock - from all major exchanges and OTC markets with 401k Easy Online by offering self-directed brokerage accounts.
• Bonds
  Corporate, municipal, and zero coupon bonds can be offered in 401k Easy Online 401k plans through the use of self-directed brokerage accounts.
• Other Investments
  Again, just about any investment authorized to accept 401k contributions is compatible with 401k Easy Online, including options, foreign securities, insurance contracts and certificates of deposit (government obligations as well as UITs). Such "other investments" are generally best offered through self-directed brokerage accounts.

For more information or for specific listings of investment possibilities, please call 1-800-660-0050.

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