Money Fix: See how your 401(k) stacks up
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Want to rate your 401(k) plan?
Try BrightScope.com, which rates employer plans and compares them with peers. One of 31 companies at the Finovate 2009 Conference on online financial services innovations last week, BrightScope has rated 10,000 plans - 348 on Long Island and New York City - and is shooting for 30,000 by year-end.
Plans are rated by costs/fees, employer generosity, investment quality and participation rate. If yours isn't rated, you can visit the site's "plan data vault" to find out how to get it scored.
Here are other online financial help resources:
The moneyStrands.com personal finance site - like Mint and Wesabe - analyzes data from your bank, credit card and investment accounts to show just where your money is going and recommend ways to save. You can provide account numbers and passwords so data arrives automatically, or you can upload account information manually.
Credit.com provides a credit report snapshot based on data from TransUnion.com, one of three credit rating agencies.
You get a grade of A to F, based on payment history, debt usage, length of credit history, account mix and number of inquiries made against your account. (Inquiries come when you apply for credit and the card issuer checks your creditworthiness.) You also see estimates of your scores, such as the FICO and Vantage scores.
Also, the site gives ways to improve a grade and, thus, credit standing. The goal, said John Ulzheimer, president, educational services, is to address consumers' "gross misunderstanding of their credit standing."
