T Rowe Price IRA?

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Looks like the wifes nailed down a new job close to our new place.

The good news is that they dont have a cruddy 403b like her last job.

The good news it that they offer 401K's with T Rowe Price.

The bad news is the fund expenses seem pretty stiff. .35% for the s&p500 index and ~.75% for their 'target retirement' series.

Anyone have any experience with them or any particular funds that are good long term performers at a decent price?

I cant believe they get away with those prices when vanguard and fidelity options are less than half the cost...

At least the company does a 401k match for employees over 1 year in service.

 

[LOL!]

My 401(k) offers an S&P500 index fund with expense ratio of 0.65%. Thank goodness the 4.5% front-end load is waived for us.

You know, it just doesn't matter what the fees and performance of the TRP 401(k) funds offered to your spouse are. You know she is gonna invest in it anyways.

 

[FinanceDude]

My 401(k) offers an S&P500 index fund with expense ratio of 0.65%. Thank goodness the 4.5% front-end load is waived for us.

You know, it just doesn't matter what the fees and performance of the TRP 401(k) funds offered to your spouse are. You know she is gonna invest in it anyways.

What's the match? TRP has lower expenses that probably 90% of 401K plans.........plus the match makes up for the higher cost to some extent.........

What are the ERs of the other funds?

 

[Sandy]

My DH and I both have TRowe for our current 403b plans. (the other options are more insurance/annunity companies like VALIC and Great Western). While some of these other companies' offerings have selected funds with lower investment management expenses/fees, all companies also have a monthly admin fee. The admin fees are significantly lower at TRowe at $12.60/year versus up to $75 to $105 annually depending on the company.

We have target retirement and S&P and mid cap funds. The fees are what they are, but the funds have had good performance and the company has good customer service.

 

[simple girl]

We have a 401k with T. Rowe. We also have IRA's and taxable accounts at Vanguard which helps me feel a little better about the ER's at T. Rowe. And, at least they aren't over 1.0. Note that I've always had good service when I call T.Rowe.

We have been satisfied with the following funds:

Equity Income (PRFDX, ER .71)
Real Estate (TRREX, ER .85)
Mid Cap Value (TRMCX, ER .82)
New Era (PRNEX, ER .68)
Small Cap Value (PRSVX, ER .84)
Capital Appreciation (PRWCX, ER .76)
Mid Cap Growth (RPMGX, ER .80)

I bolded the Cap Appreciation b/c it has been above it's category since 2000, and is ranked #2 for it's category by M*, if that means anything to you.

Some of the funds are closed to new investors, but not sure if you might still be able to get in them if you come in via a 401K/institution

 

[d]

while not as low as vanguard and some of the indexes at fidelity, TRP is a good shop with expenses considerably lower than most m.f. companies. i have several of their funds, and while your objectives likely differ from mine, would suggest you look at: capital appreciation; equity income, mid-cap growth, mid-cap value, small cap value, and value.

 

[ats5g]

CFB,

Do you mean a 401(k) or a 403(b)? With the 401(k), she doesn't really get much choice.. she just gets to pick from the funds that were pre-selected by her employer. With the 403(b), she can probably choose from any of the open funds.

Only Fidelity's index funds are cheaper than TRP's index funds. Almost all of Fidelity's other funds [managed,bond, etc.] have about the same expense ratios as TRP funds.

Can we assume you'll be using this account for bonds and other tax inefficient funds b/c a whole lot of your assets are in taxable accounts? If so, TRP has a U.S. BOND INDEX fund that only costs 0.30%. They've also got an unhedged int'l bond fund if you're so inclined, though it costs 0.86%.

btw - TSP Small Cap, Small Cap Value, and Mid Cap Value are now closed to new investors.

- Alec

 

[Olav23]

We have a 401k through bisys which I think is some sort of wrapper on merrill lynch. Check out THESE expenses:

DWS Enhanced S&P500. How does it enhance the S&P? Simple! It charges you more money than a normal index fund! Expense ratio: 1.49%

Dreyfus Small cap value: 1.75%

Federated MaxCap Index Fund: 1.1% What index is this even? It has an r-squared of 100 though, so I guess they think if they put Index in the name, you expect it to be cheap.... (and it is in comparison with the other choices...)

Eaton Vance Healthcare 1.74%


etc.

I would *love* to have access to a TRowe or Vanguard. The employees have voiced our concern to no avail. The ironic thing is, we're a financial company, so you think we'd have thought this through more appropriately.

But yes, I do invest in it begrudgingly, first, to get the match, and second for the lowered tax liability. I guess it is a trade off.

 

[sailor]

With the 401(k), she doesn't really get much choice.. she just gets to pick from the funds that were pre-selected by her employer.

Alec, that's not necessary true - depends on your plan.
My employer provides regular brokerage service through Schwab in our 401k.
In Schwab language it's called Personal Choice Retirement Account (PCRA).

 

[ats5g]

sailor,

excellent point.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Thanks for all the info so far. Yep, at least they're sub 1% funds. But dang, after being a vanguard customer for 5 years anything over .35% seems terribly expensive!

Havent seen the fund list yet, and they do have matching, but only after 1 year of employment. Not sure what the match is or how high they go, but we'll be finding out soon.

My plan, since we're in a high cash flow situation right now due to the moving and fixing up two homes, etc, is to invest minimally in it for the first year, then full banana after the match kicks in, at least up to the match level.

Since we wont be using this money for 20+ years, I'll probably put most of it into equity funds. We dont do much in the way of bondage. But point taken that its a good place to do tax inefficient investing.

 

[Goonie]

I have TRP's Retirement 2020 in my Roth IRA, and it's been performing well.

I've been with TRP for a while now, and am quite happy with their customer service. They've always been knowledgeable, helpful, and courteous. Their website is easy to navigate and makes it easy to manage your account(s).

 

[Nords]

T. Rowe Price is one of the few places that will custody Roth IRA accounts for a minor.

But as soon as she's 18 she's heading to Fidelity.

 

[Dude]

All of our Roth IRA $ is currently at Vanguard in Target Retirement 2035, but I've filled out the paperwork to move about 29% of it to T. Rowe Price Retirement 2035 Fund. Blended expense ratio between the two will be about 0.35% which I can live with. Going to give the active managers at TRP a chance and see how they do.

I also hold some Fidelity Freedom 2035 in my 401(k) (15% of balance) along with my own lower-cost allocation picks, blended 401(k) ER also about 0.35% (about 50% indexed/50% mostly low-cost actively managed funds). I plan to track the ROI of my holdings in all three target funds using Quicken, will be interesting to see which company's approach does best long term, and how my picks do compared to them.

 

[dbr]

ER's at Megacorp range from 0.01% for the S&P index through 0.04% for growth, value, and small cap indices, to 0.11% for the international index. The government TSP funds are available, I am told, at ER's of 0.015%.

Large organizations with financial clout and that respond to competetive pressure from peers in compensation and benefits offer advantageous plans that meet the vision of providing employees with an efficient and effective path to retirement funding. Elsewhere, the 401K system seems to be a plan to enable revenue and profits for 401K providers and fund companies, paid for out of employee benefits. As long as a significant employer contribution (tax deductible to the employer) is available employees will be bound by a form of golden handcuffs.

A guy named leonard over on the Bogleheads forum signs off with this tagline: "If employees weren't taking jobs with bad 401k's, bad 401k's wouldn't exist."

 

[ChrisC]

I have a 401K and 401K (Roth) with T Rowe Price. Just don't purchase the Science & Technology Fund -- I've had real ugly results with this fund.

 

[Dude]

I have a 401K and 401K (Roth) with T Rowe Price. Just don't purchase the Science & Technology Fund -- I've had real ugly results with this fund.

Thanks for the tip.

 

[jIMOh]

Looks like the wifes nailed down a new job close to our new place.

The good news is that they dont have a cruddy 403b like her last job.

The good news it that they offer 401K's with T Rowe Price.

The bad news is the fund expenses seem pretty stiff. .35% for the s&p500 index and ~.75% for their 'target retirement' series.

Anyone have any experience with them or any particular funds that are good long term performers at a decent price?

I cant believe they get away with those prices when vanguard and fidelity options are less than half the cost...

At least the company does a 401k match for employees over 1 year in service.

YES- My Roths and Rollovers are with T Rowe. 100k+ right now with them. Wife's accounts are with them too and total another 15-20k or so,

We own the following:
PRFDX (Equity Income)
RPMGX (Mid Cap Growth)
PRDMX (Diversified Mid Cap Growth)
PRNHX (New Horizons)
PRDSX (Diversified Small cap)
TRIGX (International Growth and Income)
PRIDX (International Discovery)
RPSIX (Spectrum Income)
PROSX (Overseas stock)

I hope I got tickers right- that is recited from memory. Funds names are correct, though. Equity Income is one of best funds out there, IMO.

 

[jIMOh]

I have TRP's Retirement 2020 in my Roth IRA, and it's been performing well.

I've been with TRP for a while now, and am quite happy with their customer service. They've always been knowledgeable, helpful, and courteous. Their website is easy to navigate and makes it easy to manage your account(s).

I second this comment.

 

[jIMOh]

We have a 401k with T. Rowe. We also have IRA's and taxable accounts at Vanguard which helps me feel a little better about the ER's at T. Rowe. And, at least they aren't over 1.0. Note that I've always had good service when I call T.Rowe.

We have been satisfied with the following funds:

Equity Income (PRFDX, ER .71)
Real Estate (TRREX, ER .85)
Mid Cap Value (TRMCX, ER .82)
New Era (PRNEX, ER .68)
Small Cap Value (PRSVX, ER .84)
Capital Appreciation (PRWCX, ER .76)
Mid Cap Growth (RPMGX, ER .80)

I bolded the Cap Appreciation b/c it has been above it's category since 2000, and is ranked #2 for it's category by M*, if that means anything to you.

Some of the funds are closed to new investors, but not sure if you might still be able to get in them if you come in via a 401K/institution

Capital Appreciation (PRWCX) was one of my holdings, it changed managers twice in last 2 years and I dumped fund this January and bought more shares of PRFDX (Equity Income) in all accounts where I held PRWCX.

 

[jIMOh]

Since we wont be using this money for 20+ years, I'll probably put most of it into equity funds. We dont do much in the way of bondage. But point taken that its a good place to do tax inefficient investing.

RPSIX is Spectrum Income, which is a fund of funds for bonds. It's objective is different than some bond funds (stated goal is high amount of income with moderate changes in NAV).

It owns Real estate bonds, government bonds, corporate bonds, foreign bonds and emerging markets bonds, as well as income paying stocks. Allocation is 15% stock, 85% bonds. Quite happy with this fund.

 

[Dude]

jIMOh, thanks for the comments, good to hear positives about TRP. I've got a TRP investor center about 25 miles from my house, going to pay a visit tomorrow.

 

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

DW has her 401k at TRP. The mechanics have gone ok, the expenses are OK but not in the Vgd ball park. Last I looked most of their balanced funds "looked" a bit better than Vgd and FIDO only because they had a more aggressive AA.

BTW, I set up my Vgd web portal to retrieve her TRP account and list it on the Vgd page as an "outside" investment. It updates daily and at least I can see everything in one place -- along with a few other misc things I can't roll over, such as my active 401K, 457 through employer, and even a small old whole live policy from decades ago at NML. You can do the same at Yodlee.com.

 

[ChrisC]

DW has her 401k at TRP. The mechanics have gone ok, the expenses are OK but not in the Vgd ball park.

Some employers, with sufficient financial clout, are able to knock these expenses down considerably. An employer, with sufficient leverage (and it might be as simple as we will take our business to Vanguard, ING or Fidelity) can have a 401K provider create "trust funds" that replicate the publicly traded funds. These trust funds are opened only to employees/retirees and the trust fund expenses are significantly lower than the publicly traded mutual fund expenses.

 

[jIMOh]

Some employers, with sufficient financial clout, are able to knock these expenses down considerably. An employer, with sufficient leverage (and it might be as simple as we will take our business to Vanguard, ING or Fidelity) can have a 401K provider create "trust funds" that replicate the publicly traded funds. These trust funds are opened only to employees/retirees and the trust fund expenses are significantly lower than the publicly traded mutual fund expenses.

I have funds like these through my 401k. Originally I was upset, but first 4 months have shown they are better than most funds I would have picked on my own.