Look, here’s the deal: Life sucks and then you die. That’s allthere is to it. Now let’s just get on with retirement saving.

Do you agree with me on this? We are enabling bad retirementsavings behavior every time we tell people to find problems withtheir 401(k) plan.

Scour the popular press and you could easily find several recentarticles purporting to advise employees how to determine whethertheir company’s 401(k) plan is “bad” or “good.”

It seems like this is all we see these days: Let’s find a badguy to blame for society’s sins.

It’s not the individual’s fault that he doesn’t save enough.It’s the company’s fault for providing an imperfect plan.

Worse, we’re encouraging the dual false belief that: (a) theaverage 401(k) participant is better at making a subjectivedetermination on the relative merits of a 401(k) plan whenexperienced professionals can reasonably disagree on what is “good”and what is “bad”; and (b) even if they can accurately assess thenature of their 401(k) plan, that they possess some sort of magicalpower that will allow them to convince their plan’s sponsor – you know, the one whoowns the fiduciary liability for making a bad decision – to abideby their inexpert analysis and recommendation.

Consider the futility of this.

Now consider the alternative. What if, instead of getting folksall up in arms about the possible problems with their 401(k), wetell them the best savings strategies they can use even if theyhave a less than ideal 401(k) plan? (By coincidence, you might beinterested in reading “Best Savings Strategies for Employees with BadRetirement Plans,” FiduciaryNews.com, June 28,2016.)

By accentuating the positive, we achieve two very commendableobjectives. First, we empower the employees to take control oftheir own retirement lives. We’re telling them they no longer needdepend on what at times might appear to be a detached third party(aka their employer) to achieve something near and dear to theirhearts. Second, and of equal significance, we reinforce thephilosophy of self-responsibility. This is famously encapsulated inthe introspective question “If not me, then who?”

People who assume personal accountability and reduce theirdependency on others tend to be successful. People want to besuccessful. So, doing things that encourage self-responsibility isa good thing.

This is not to say there aren’t plans out there that needimprovement and that plan sponsors don’t want to improve thoseplans.

The reality of plan oversight requires changes to turn at thespeed of an aircraft carrier. This is done with purpose. We don’twant make it easy to alter what should be a long-term strategy.

This is especially true with investments. Today’s investmentfly-boys are tomorrow’s has-been fads. By taking a long-termperspective, you can easily see where you don’t want to bet yourretirement on the Hare when the Tortoise will get you there in amore dependable fashion.

Still, there are universally acknowledged “no-no’s” that canafflict 401(k) plans. You never want to pay for a higher fee shareclass when less expensive ones are available.

In a similar vein, academic studies show funds exposed tocommissions, 12b-1 fees, and revenue sharing tend to underperformfunds that aren’t exposed to these “hidden” fees. Plan sponsorsshouldn’t wait for their employees to discover these problems.

Plan sponsors should expect their service providers to findthese issues and to recommend the fastest way to remove them. Thisis in the plan sponsor's best interest, not just the employees’best interests.

Plan sponsors and plan participants each have a unique role whenit comes to interacting with their 401(k) plan. The plan sponsor’sprimary responsibility is plan oversight: Find the problem, fix theproblem.

The plan participant’s primary responsibility is self-interest:Know your goal-oriented target, use as many weapons as possible toachieve that goal-oriented target. And those weapons aren’t limitedto the company 401(k) plan.

There’s a popular expression known as the “Serenity Prayer.” Itgoes something like this: “God, grant me the serenity to accept thethings I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, Andwisdom to know the difference.”

Let’s not encourage 401(k) participants to change things theycan’t. Let’s show them how to propel themselves to fabulous successby taking charge of the matters in their life they do control.