The 401k Podcast with Fexingo: Employer Retirement Plans, Matching, and Long-Term Saving

Episode 54 of The 401k Podcast with Fexingo explores auto-portability — a feature that automatically moves your old 401k balance to your new employer's plan when you switch jobs. Lucas and Luna break down how it works, why the Retirement Clearinghouse and major recordkeepers are rolling it out, and what it means for the roughly one in five workers who leave a job each year. They discuss the proble...

Episode 53 of The 401k Podcast with Fexingo explores automatic reenrollment — a little-known 401k plan feature that automatically re-enrolls participants who previously opted out or stopped contributing. Lucas and Luna explain how it differs from auto-enrollment, why plan sponsors use it, and what it means for your savings rate. They walk through a real example: a participant earning $60,000 who o...

Episode 52 of The 401k Podcast digs into the default investment option inside your 401k — the Qualified Default Investment Alternative, or QDIA. Lucas explains how your plan's QDIA was chosen, why most plans default into target-date funds, and what happens when the QDIA's glide path doesn't match your retirement date. Luna brings data on how QDIA choices affect participant outcomes, including a Va...

Lucas and Luna break down the triple tax advantage of pairing your 401k with an HSA, using a concrete example of a 35-year-old earning $70,000 who could save over $8,000 annually and reduce taxable income by $8,450. They explain how contributions are pre-tax, growth is tax-free, and withdrawals for qualified medical expenses are tax-free, plus the catch-up contribution at 55. The episode covers re...

Episode 50 of The 401k Podcast with Fexingo examines the updated safe harbor notice requirements for 2026. Lucas and Luna break down what changed under the latest IRS guidance, including new disclosure rules for auto-enrollment and the simplified format for small plans. They discuss a concrete example: a mid-sized manufacturer in Ohio that had to reissue notices after missing the updated income th...

Episode 49 of The 401k Podcast with Fexingo unpacks the surprisingly tricky tax implications of in-plan Roth rollovers — the option to convert your pre-tax 401k savings to Roth while still employed. Lucas and Luna walk through a concrete example: a mid-career saver with $200,000 in pre-tax 401k assets considering a partial rollover. They explain why the tax bill is immediate and often overlooked,...

In this episode of The 401k Podcast, Lucas and Luna explore the power of auto-escalation—a feature in many 401k plans that automatically increases your contribution rate each year. They walk through how a typical employee starting at a 6% contribution with 1% annual escalation can see their savings rate climb to 15% or more over a decade without ever making a manual change. They discuss the behavi...

In this episode of The 401k Podcast, hosts Lucas and Luna dig into a hidden cost lurking in many retirement plans: the managed account fee. They break down how a typical 0.5% to 1.0% annual fee on top of fund expenses can reduce a saver's balance by tens of thousands of dollars over a career. Using a concrete example of a 30-year-old with a $50,000 balance contributing $10,000 annually, they show...

Episode 46 of The 401k Podcast explores self-directed brokerage windows within employer retirement plans. Lucas and Luna break down how a brokerage window lets you invest beyond the plan's menu of funds, the fees and risks involved, and who it's actually for. Using a real-world example of a Fidelity-managed plan offering a BrokerageLink option, they walk through the typical costs—like a $50 annual...

Episode 45 explores a quiet revolution in 401k plans: guaranteed lifetime income options, often through in-plan annuities or managed payout funds. Lucas and Luna break down how these work, why the SECURE Act paved the way, and what it means for your retirement paycheck. They discuss the trade-offs between flexibility and security, using Fidelity's 2025 data showing that 15% of large plans now offe...

Episode 44 of The 401k Podcast unpacks a hidden cost in your retirement plan: collective trusts and separate accounts that can charge higher fees than comparable institutional mutual funds. Lucas and Luna walk through a real example from a mid-sized tech company's 401k menu, where a collective trust tracking the S&P 500 had an expense ratio of 0.12 percent, while an institutional Vanguard index fu...

Episode 43 of The 401k Podcast with Fexingo uncovers the mega backdoor Roth strategy many high-earners overlook. Lucas explains how a specific provision in IRS rules lets you contribute up to $70,000 into a Roth account through your 401k, far beyond the standard $23,000 limit. He walks through the math using a concrete example: a 45-year-old engineer earning $180,000 who could build over $1.2 mill...

Episode 42 of The 401k Podcast with Fexingo dives into the hidden fees lurking in your retirement plan—specifically revenue sharing from mutual fund share classes. Lucas and Luna break down how a plan with $50 million in assets could be paying $100,000 more than necessary each year just because the plan uses retail share classes instead of institutional ones. They walk through a real example: a Fi...

Episode 41 of The 401k Podcast explores the quiet shift of 401k plans into private equity. Lucas and Luna break down how the 2020 Department of Labor letter opened the door for PE funds in your retirement account, why plan sponsors are adding them, and what it means for your returns and risk. They walk through a concrete example: a 401k plan using a target-date fund that now allocates up to 5% to...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the 401k safe harbor match — an employer contribution structure that guarantees employees a certain match regardless of company profits, while letting the company bypass annual nondiscrimination testing. They walk through the specific deferral percentages required (3% automatic plus 50% on the next 2%, or a 4% flat match), how this compares to traditional di...

Every year, your 401k plan sends you a document that most people delete without opening. In episode 39, Lucas and Luna break down what's actually inside that Summary Annual Report — the fee table, the investment performance numbers, the changes to your plan. Using a real example from a mid-sized company's 2025 filing, they show how one line item about revenue-sharing payments could cost you thousa...

In this episode of The 401k Podcast, Lucas and Luna drill into a specific feature many plan participants overlook: the 401k loan. Using a concrete example borrowed from Fidelity's 2025 participant data, they show how a $10,000 loan over five years can silently erode your retirement balance by as much as $8,000 in lost compound growth — even though you're paying yourself interest. They walk through...

Many 401k participants are defaulted into target-date funds, but plan sponsors increasingly offer managed accounts that promise personalized allocation. In this episode, Lucas and Luna dig into the data: managed accounts charge an average of 0.30% to 0.50% in additional fees, and a 2024 Morningstar study found they added only about 0.1% to 0.3% in net returns after fees. They discuss Vanguard's 20...

Episode 36 of The 401k Podcast with Fexingo dives into a little-known but hugely impactful 401k feature: forfeitures. Every year, employees who leave a company before their employer match fully vests leave money behind—and that money doesn't vanish. Instead, it goes into a forfeiture account, which plan sponsors can use to reduce future matching contributions, pay plan fees, or even reallocate to...

Starting in 2026, 401k plans can include an emergency savings account feature that lets you save up to $2,500 of after-tax money that's fully liquid, tax-free on withdrawal, and even eligible for employer matching. Lucas and Luna break down how SECURE 2.0 created this option, why it changes the old rule that retirement money should never be touched before 59.5, and what it means for someone who's...

Episode 34 of The 401k Podcast with Fexingo digs into the 401k catch-up contribution rule for workers age 50 and older. Lucas and Luna break down the SECURE 2.0 changes taking effect in 2025 and 2026, including the new higher catch-up limit for ages 60 to 63. They walk through a real example: a 55-year-old earning $120,000 who uses the full catch-up for five years could add nearly $40,000 in tax-a...

In this episode of The 401k Podcast, Lucas and Luna dig into the Roth 401k option that many plans now offer but few employees fully understand. Using a concrete example of a 30-year-old earning $75,000 a year, they compare the after-tax benefit of Roth contributions versus traditional pre-tax contributions over a 30-year career. They explain how the math shifts depending on your tax bracket now ve...

Episode 32 of The 401k Podcast digs into a subtle feature in many retirement plans: automatic contribution escalation. Lucas explains how a seemingly small annual increase—often just one percentage point—can compound into tens of thousands of extra dollars over a career. He uses a concrete example: a 30-year-old earning $60,000 who starts at a 6% default rate and escalates 1% each year until 15% v...

Lucas and Luna explore the powerful but often overlooked strategy of pairing your 401k with a Health Savings Account. They break down the triple tax advantage—tax-deductible contributions, tax-free growth, and tax-free withdrawals for qualified medical expenses—and explain why this combination can supercharge retirement savings. Using real-world numbers, they show how a 35-year-old in a 24% tax br...

In this episode of The 401k Podcast, Lucas and Luna unpack the 401k hardship withdrawal trap that could derail your retirement. Over 2 million participants take hardship withdrawals annually—often for avoidable reasons. Lucas explains the specific IRS rules, the 10% penalty, the 20% withholding, and the double-taxation effect. Luna asks about alternatives like 401k loans and emergency savings acco...