More and more professionals are convinced the industry has spent a generation of disservice to retirement savers by emphasizing the investment part of their 401k plan. Even today, DOL-mandated fee disclosure, with a separate line item of "Investment Adviser," can confuse plan participants into believing they – as opposed to the plan sponsor – are receiving (or even need) investment advice.

Those responsible for printing out employee statements have a duty to distinguish between "individual-level" investment advice and "plan-level" fiduciary services. Until this is done, who can fault employees for the confusion?

In the meantime, fiduciaries can best help employees by providing general education that both promotes savings and focuses on avoiding the most common mistakes made by retirement investors. Think of these as the three "overs" that can cause 401k to "under" achieve their retirement goals. Fortunately, these errors tend to derive from emotions. This means it only takes an ounce of discipline to defeat them and stay comfortable on the road to retirement readiness.