Are these fees high for a 401k?

[dcase84]

I currently have a 401k setup through my employer and I'm getting matched up to 4%. We currently use American Funds and I'm currently invested in three different funds. I don't think I can do anything with who I/we use, mostly just curious how these fees compare to other 401ks.



*American Funds Balanced R3*
Fee Summary
Gross Expense Ratio(12/31/2011) .......................... 0.95%
Net Expense Ratio .................................................. 0.95%
Management Fee .................................................. .. 0.24%
12b-1 Fee .................................................. ............ 0.50%
Other Expenses .................................................. .... 0.21%
Redemption Fee .................................................. ......... NA

*American Funds Growth Fund Of America R3*
Fee Summary
Gross Expense Ratio(08/31/2011) .......................... 0.97%
Net Expense Ratio .................................................. 0.97%
Management Fee .................................................. .. 0.27%
12b-1 Fee .................................................. ............ 0.50%
Other Expenses .................................................. .... 0.20%
Redemption Fee .................................................. ......... NA

*American Funds Smallcap World R3*
Fee Summary
Gross Expense Ratio(09/30/2011) .......................... 1.41%
Net Expense Ratio .................................................. 1.41%
Management Fee .................................................. .. 0.64%
12b-1 Fee .................................................. ............ 0.50%
Other Expenses .................................................. .... 0.27%
Redemption Fee .................................................. ......... NA

[kv968]

They aren't as good as if you were able to invest on your own (i.e. IRA) and obviously not as good as index funds but as far as 401k's go, they aren't THAT bad.

If you were to go out and buy those same funds on your own the expense ratios would be:

Balanced:
"A" Shares - 0.62%
"C" Shares - 1.42%

Growth Fund:
"A" Shares - 0.68%
"C" Shares - 1.46%

Smallcap:
"A" Shares - 1.09%
"C" Shares - 1.86%

So basically, you fall right about in the middle of the two different classes. The only problem with the "A" shares, which have the lower ER, is that they also have a 5.25% front-end load if you invest less that $25k.