Investment advisory services for Guideline’s 401(k) (when 3(38) fiduciary services are appointed) and SEP IRA/IRA products are offered by Guideline Investments, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. References to “Guideline” “we” or “our” in this article specifically refer to Guideline Investments, LLC. For more information regarding fees and services, see Guideline’s ADV 2A Brochure and Form CRS.
Guideline charges 401(k) participants an annual account fee based on assets under management.
The annual 401(k) account fee charged to you is typically between 0.08% and 0.35%, depending on the pricing plan chosen by your employer and the date the plan was established.
You can find your specific annual account fee within your Annual Disclosure. To access this document, navigate to your name and select Resource Library in the drop-down menu, then Notices & Disclosures. Your annual account fee will be outlined under "Administrative Expenses" within the "What fees will apply to my account?" section.
Additionally, you can see your fees in the quarterly statement section of your Guideline dashboard. To do so, select Statements from the main menu, then click on your most recent quarterly statement. Under the section titled “Fees,” your annual rate will be shown for each month in that quarter. Please note this may not appear for newer participants.
How is the account fee calculated?
Your annual account fees are calculated and deducted on a monthly basis based on your balance on the last day of the calendar month. To determine your account fee for a given month, you would multiply your month-end balance by your account fee (as a decimal), then divide that number by 12 (the number of months in a year).
(month-end balance * account fee) / 12 = account fee for that month
For example, if your account fee is 0.15%, and you have a balance of $10,000 in your 401(k), then your account fee for the month would be about $1.25. The formula in this scenario is (10,000 x 0.0015)/12 = 1.25.¹
Where can I view my monthly fees?
To see your recent fee transactions, navigate to your Guideline dashboard. On the main page, scroll down to Recent Transactions and look for the rows that mention “Account fee.”
Your account fees will be listed within the report based on the dates they were processed.
To view longer or more detailed transaction history and fees, navigate to Statements within the main menu. Next, click on a quarterly or annual statement. Within the reports, a breakdown of the total account fees charged to your account will be listed accordingly.
You can learn more about Guideline 401(k) fees here or in our Form ADV 2A Brochure.
Any image depicted is illustrative, and for educational purposes only. They are not representative of any client account.
¹ This information is for illustrative purposes only and does not represent the actual costs you may incur as a Guideline client. Information shown here assumes a static balance of $10,000 per month, an annual account fee of 0.15% on assets under management (calculated and deducted on a monthly basis at 1/12 of the annual stated rate (0.15%)) based on the month-end account balance. This example does not account for common factors that affect the value of your account balance over time, such as gains, losses, distributions, additional contributions, etc., and is not intended to constitute investment advice nor an assurance or guarantee of future performance. The fee presented does not represent the account fee on all accounts, nor does it include other fees that a 401(k) participant may incur, including, but not limited to mutual fund expense ratios and a monthly maintenance fee for 401(k) participants who end employment.