Fees Without Services is a Meaningless Comparison

One of the requirements for a best analysis for a rollover recommendation is to compare the costs in a participant’s
retirement plan to those in the rollover IRA. The SEC and the DOL agree on that.

However, an assessment of relative costs is only part of the story–because the real issue is “value” relative to cost.
In other words, a comparison of costs without a comparison of services is meaningless. If the value of services
offered with an IRA is worth more than the cost differential, then a rollover can be justified. But, the value is not an
abstract measure to a hypothetical investor; instead, it is a question of the needs, objectives and circumstances
of the particular participant.