Average plaintiff attorney fees in ERISA settlements ran $1.59 million per case in 2025. Participants received a median of $67.79. That disparity tells only part of the story — the plans being sued already have the lowest fees in the market, while the plans with genuinely excessive fees are too small to attract a plaintiff attorney. The workers who need protection most are the ones the system never reaches.

A Field Assistance Bulletin from EBSA — requiring no legislation, no rulemaking, and no new systems — could create for the first time the conditions for a functioning market in 401(k) plan services for small businesses. This post explains what a FAB is, why small plans are most harmed by fee opacity, and what four specific guidance points would change the industry without imposing a single new mandate.

Every law firm and legal organization in the country is eligible for a retirement plan program that enables participants to eliminate advisory, recordkeeping, administration, and custodial fees from participant accounts entirely. For a typical 10-participant plan paying $15,000 in annual service fees, that translates to $1.4 million in additional plan assets over 30 years. Most legal organizations have never heard of it.

A 17-year analysis of 6,000 plans reveals why fee disclosure failed — and what actually creates market pressure.

An accounting firm with just 10 participants in 2015 and 20 in 2024 paid steadily rising 401(k) fees for years in a way that forfeited a basic tax deduction, revealing a much bigger problem in the system.

Every professional service relationship has an invoice. The invoice describes the work, states the cost, and creates the moment where a buyer decides whether the price is justified. Retirement plan service providers almost never send one — and that single structural fact explains why plan fees have never been subject to real market discipline.

A retirement plan can receive a clean audit opinion even if it embeds hidden compensation, shifts costs onto participants, and includes conflicted provider relationships.

Here’s why.