What is this record keeping fee I’m seeing under the activity tab for my fidelity 403b? It lists a fee for each index fund that I have in my 403b portfolio that I self manage.
Hi @JoAnneM!
Some employer retirement plans pass record keeping fees on to the participants and other employers pay the fees themselves. A record keeping fee is the cost to pay the benefit administrator (in your case it sounds like it is Fidelity) for maintaining all of the accounts, having an online portal, etc.
I usually see it charged as a relatively small flat fee quarterly or annually as a % of your account. Sometimes it is a per fund charge, which it sounds like yours might be, but that is not as common.
Fees in general are never any fun, but if your employer does offer a match, that should more than make up for any record keeping fees!
Unfortunately my employer does not offer a match but I know it is still worth investing into for the tax break. I currently have $6,058 in my 403b (I deduct $500 per biweekly paycheck since January 2022 and have invested a total of $6,500). Looks like I’ve been getting charged a total of around $21 per quarter (they are charging per fund) in record keeping fees. Is this higher than usual? This is definitely a hidden fee I wasn’t aware of. Of course I have no choice in this case. Thanks for the response!