401(k) Plan Cost Scorecard

Plan-level sponsor-controllable cost metrics and cohort ranking.

No current-year rating row was imported for this plan page.
The ratings build could not find a 2024 Form 5500 rating row for this page's ACK ID. The visible planinfo record is from 20081231. This often means the page is historical, renamed, terminated, or not present in the current filing dataset.
Reason code: NO_CURRENT_YEAR_RATING_ROW · Planinfo filing period: 20081231 · Active participants: 357 · Assets: $12,001,088

How to read this rating

This scorecard helps plan sponsors, advisors, and committees compare a plan’s reported plan-level fees against peer plans using public Form 5500 filings. It focuses on costs that are typically negotiable with providers, and it aims to avoid participant-specific charges (loan fees, QDRO fees, individual transaction fees). Technical details.

What is the cohort?
The cohort is the peer group we compare against. It is large 401(k) plans (1,000+ active participants) for the same filing year that include the required schedule and report a positive plan-paid expense amount. Plans that report $0 expenses are shown, but they are not ranked because $0 often means fees were paid by participants or netted from returns (not that the plan is free).
Final Score (0-100)
A simple relative score: higher is better (lower cost vs. peers). It is derived from where the plan lands in the cohort distribution of Total Cost (bps).
Cohort Rank
The plan’s position within the cohort sorted by Total Cost (bps), from lowest cost to highest cost. Example: 100 / 2,500 means the plan is among the lowest-cost ~4% of the cohort by this measure.
Confidence (0-1)
A reliability indicator. 1.0 means the key fields needed for this scorecard are present and the filing looks usable for ranking. Lower values mean missing inputs or a filing pattern (like $0 reported plan-paid expenses) that makes the comparison less reliable.
Total Cost (bps)
Plan-level annual expenses expressed as basis points of assets. Roughly: 10 bps = 0.10% = about $10 per $10,000 of plan assets per year.
Investment Mgmt (bps) and Admin Overhead (bps)
Two components of Total Cost. Investment Mgmt is the portion reported as investment management fees. Admin Overhead is the remainder (recordkeeping/TPA/audit/other admin expenses as reported), grouped as a single bucket.
Cost / Participant
Total plan-level cost divided by active participants. This can make it easier to think about per-person administrative pricing.
Technical details
Basis points (bps)
bps = (fee / average plan assets) × 10,000.
Average plan assets
If both beginning-of-year and end-of-year assets are present: (BOY + EOY)/2. Otherwise, EOY assets.
Total Cost (bps)
tot_admin_expenses_amt / avg assets × 10,000.
Investment Mgmt (bps)
invst_mgmt_fees_amt / avg assets × 10,000.
Admin Overhead (bps)
(tot_admin_expenses_amt – invst_mgmt_fees_amt) / avg assets × 10,000.
Cost / Participant
tot_admin_expenses_amt / tot_active_partcp_cnt.
Cohort Rank and percentile
Eligible plans are sorted by total_plan_cost_bps ascending. Percentile is computed from index position (0 = best, 100 = worst).
Final Score
final_score = max(0, 100 – cohort_percentile).
Confidence
confidence = fraction of required fields present: tot_admin_expenses_amt, invst_mgmt_fees_amt, tot_assets_eoy_amt, tot_active_partcp_cnt. Filings that report TOT_ADMIN_EXPENSES_AMT as $0 are treated as not scorable and confidence is capped.

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Keep researching CSS STUDIOS 401K PLAN

Use the links below to move from this plan page into calculators, related retirement articles, and comparable plans in a similar industry or size band. That gives you a faster way to compare match design, fees, investments, and savings strategy in context.

Money headlines from this plan

These filing-based headlines surface the numbers most likely to affect a participant decision. Verify current plan documents before acting.

  • Average plan assets per reported participant: $33,616
    Based on the 2008 public filing. This is a plan-wide average, not a personal retirement target. Calculate a personal retirement target.
  • Employer contributions per reported participant: $189
    Based on the 2008 public filing. This reported average can include match, profit sharing, or other employer contributions. Review the match and contribution details.
  • Employee contributions per reported participant: $1,169
    Based on the 2008 public filing. Individual contribution rates vary with pay, eligibility, and participation. Model a contribution increase.
  • Reported administrative expenses as a share of assets: 0.00%
    Based on the 2008 public filing. This plan-level administrative ratio does not replace current fund expense ratios or participant fee disclosures. Estimate the long-term impact of fees.

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