Chairman Miller on 60 Minutes Discussing Transparency for 401(k) Fees

This Sunday, 60 Minutes will air a segment on how the economic crisis is affecting workers’ 401(k)s and retirement security, featuring an interview with Chairman George Miller. 60 Minutes airs on CBS at 7 pm eastern.

View the brief clip previewing the segment below.

Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) believes the many fees extracted from 401(k) accounts are adding insult to injury for millions of Americans whose accounts have been decimated by stock losses and whose retirements are now in jeopardy.

Miller talks to 60 Minutes correspondent Steve Kroft for a report on how the recession is affecting 401(k) retirement plans to be broadcast this Sunday, April 17, 2009.

"There clearly has been a raid on these funds by the people of Wall Street and it has cost the savers - and the future retirees - a lot of money that would otherwise be in their accounts, independent of the financial collapse," says Miller, the chairman of the House Committee on Education and Labor. The chairman also dislikes the hidden nature of the more-than-a-dozen fees that most Americans are not fully aware are being skimmed off their 401(k)s. "And I'll bet you won't find half of them here," he tells Kroft, holding out a prospectus from a popular mutual fund found in many 401(k) portfolios.

The various fees can include legal fees, trustee fees, transactional fees, stewardship fees, bookkeeping fees, sales fees, asset management fees, investment management fees, investment advisor fees, finder's fees and many more.

Miller has been trying to curb what he considers excessive fees. "We tried to just put in some disclosure and transparency in these fees and we felt the full fury of the financial lobby," he says. (From CBSNews.com)

Preserving and strengthening 401(k)s is nothing new for Chairman Miller and the Education and Labor Committee. In 2007, the Committee passed the 401(k) Fair Disclosure for Retirement Security Act of 2007 (H.R.3185). In late 2008, the Committee helped suspend a tax penalty for seniors who did not take a minimum withdrawal from their depleted retirement accounts in 2009, and in February held a hearing regarding how to strengthen worker retirement security.

Many of the issues Chairman Miller discusses in the 60 Minutes segment will be discussed at the Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions Subcommittee hearing regarding the 401(k) Fair Disclosure for Retirement Security Act of 2009 at 10:30 AM on April 22, 2009.

You will be able to watch the live webcast here.