Ask me your retirement questions: I got fired before I was hired!

My post on 401(k) plans generated some spirited comments. Some readers asked what "subsidy" employers get from 401(k) advisors and mutual fund families. Here's the way it works.

Brokers and fund families (with few exceptions) make employers an enticing offer: Let us select the funds available to plan participants, and we will subsidize the record-keeping costs of your plan, sometimes absorbing 100% of these costs.