401 (K) Plans: Increased Educational Outreach And Broader Oversight May Help Reduce Plan Fees-..

Under Title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), employers are permitted to sponsor two broad types of retirement plans, defined benefit-plans that promise to provide a benefit that is generally based on an employee's years of service and frequently salary, regardless of the investment portfolio's performance-or defined contribution-plans in which retirement savings are based on contributions and the performance of the investments in individual accounts.