Despite numerous stories and hearings on the topic, new fee disclosure regulations in the 401(k) retirement plan system could cause some angst among plan sponsors and plan participants.

There are two sets of fee disclosure regulations that are expected to be finalized in Spring 2012. One relates to information investment companies provide to their plan sponsor clients and the other is the fee disclosures plan sponsors must give to their plan participants.

Some companies, like The Principal, began working through the regulations the moment they were first introduced in 2010. "What we did is start providing focus groups with mockups of how we planned to disclose this information. Then we tested it with plan sponsors and advisors and worked through a third party. None of this information was new. We've been providing this information for some time. We just seized the opportunity to change how this information was presented," said Joni Tibbetts, vice president of retirement and investor services for The Principal.