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Originally Posted by dradernh
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Enroll and participate are very loose terms here. Many employees sign up, but very few actually contribute much of anything. Some companies require enrollment, but they can't force you to contribute. Many public sector employees have access to pensions and pension-like systems. Funny how that works. The government allowed for the private sector push of the 401K to take away pensions to maximize profits but government doesn't do the same? Ironic
Most Americans don't know squat about investing. It's overwhelming by design and the US tax code doesn't help things. A lot of 401Ks are also pretty terrible with respect to the funds offered. Employees see a fund in their 401K offering with a fancy name like "Wealth Growth Fund" and a high expense ratio, thus assume that's the fund(s) to be in. I was guilty of this when I was younger. So much wasted money and time. Actively managed funds with high expense ratios will almost always come out way behind an S&P 500 index fund over time (5+ years).
IMO, put enough money in your 401k to get the match and only seek out the S&P 500 index funds. Read the book "The Little Book of Common Sense Investing" and take the rest of your money and open an account at Vanguard, Fidelity, etc. and manage the rest of the investing yourself.