Merrill Lynch 401K Services

Pros: confirms new 401(k) contributions, easy to see current value of funds in portfolio
Cons: extremely poorly designed, information in dribs and drabs all over the place, terrible reporting tools

Whoever designed the Merrill Lynch 401(k) site should be shot. Any judge worth his salt would deem it justifiable homicide. As its title implies, this website is a portal to the corporate 401(k) plans managed by Merrill Lynch. While it offers some ...

Pros: You are in control of your money
Cons: Nothing

Merrill Lynch's 401K plan is excellent. It was a blessing that my husband's company chose to take advantage of their services. Any questions my husband or I had regarding this account were answered quickly and in a manner that was easy to understand....

Pros: Their glossy decks grab your attention.
Cons: The endless amount of fine print, hidden fees and nondisclosures.

Ok, let's preface this with the fact that I've been with Merrill Lynch for 7 years - trying to figure out what to do with the 401k from WorldCom/MCI they've mismanaged for the life of the fund(s). In fact, I'm sure many feel the way I do, Merrill may ...

Pros: None
Cons: High fees, horrible website, very little information

My employer switched to Merrill Lynch just recently, boy am I sorry. The website is awful, every broker website I've seen has it beat, no MS Money download, statements are broken currently, fund information is hard to get and confusing. The funds ...

Pros: nothing
Cons: -reps say you can't pull out until your 60 -disappearing fees were denied

So I decide to put some funds in my company 401K plan. I spread it around, putting in like 10% right. well, these promoted funds on their website claim to be doing this and that. now, i understand the markets down, but damn, why should I be forced to ...

Pros: Toll Free Number usually can get a CR within a few minutes.
Cons: Customer Service Representatives are like Robots in their conversation.. Slow Pay-Out.

My Mother worked at Wal-Mart. She had died on June 14 2005. She had a Wal-Mart Employee 401(K) through Merrill Lynch. For over two months I have been battling with Merrill Lynch in paying out the inherited 401(K). Merrill Lynch keeps claiming that Wal-Mart has not yet verified the Beneficiary Status. The CR's keep telling me "it will take a few more days." However, it has now been two months! Still no 401(K) pay-out. Despite numerous complaints and calls. I keep getting the same answer. Merrill Lynch has yet to my knowledge done anything to have Wal-Mart complete the verification and authorize the pay-out. The CR's seem to be nothing more then robots repeating the same thing. I also have two Sisters having the same problem. However, one Sister informed me that she got a call from a Merrill Lynch CR that the papers are complete but still have to wait another 2 weeks to get the pay-out. If you get a 401(K) from Merrill Lynch such as through Wal-Mart be very aware that your Beneficiaries may have long delays in having the 401(K) Paid Out.

Pros: good website, good literature
Cons: none

I knew that Merrill Lynch's reputation was excellent when I started with a company which offered their 401K plan. I didn't know how good until I started working with this plan.

They offer investments of different risk levels, low, medium or high. Because of my age and number of years to retirement, I chose a medium risk set of investments.

The literature I received was very helpful on calculating what kind of risk factor I should consider.

I am able to take any percentage out of my bi-weekly paycheck that I want to invest.

I can access my account either on line or by phone. The website is very easy to navigate and has tons of information on it.

I can take a loan on my money and pay the interest back into my account.

I have been very pleased with the options I have been offered and the service I have received. Even with the market being as it is, I have received a decent return.

Pros: Really unsure
Cons: Slow Web Site and hard to find information.

We recently switched to the Merrill Lynch 401K fund through our employer. We haven't been with them long enough to know the worth of the fund. What we have found out is how God awful their web site is. This is the surely the slowest web site on the net. Information is buried behind header after header and it takes forever to load one page. While myself and others have contacted them about their substandard technology they seem oblivious to remedying the problem.

If you're considering enrolling in Merrill Lynch spend a few minutes reviewing their web site - I sure wish our benefits administrator had!

Pros: ALL MY OPINIONS OF MERRILL LYNCH ARE POSITIVE
Cons: I WOULD LIKE TO SEE IS MORE AGGRESSIVE CHOICES, BUT THAT IS NOT M.L. FAULT.

In my opinion Merrill Lynch does a very good job of keeping all Walmart employees up to date via their website which is located at www.benefits.ml.com. Once the website is used and the employee gets familar with all the information that is provided, I know of nothing else that Merrill Lynch could do that would keep anyone more informed about their Walmart 401K. The history of anyones account can be found for the past 18 months. Anything that could be needed is found on this site. If this site is used in conjunction with www.the401ksupercenter.com any employee will know more about their 401K than probably 99% of their peers. I urge all employees to use both sites and keep up with what they are buying. It makes a tremendous difference in your retirements returns. I use both www.benefits.ml.com and www.the401ksupercenter.com on almost a daily basis. I have compared my 18 month returns(27.18%) to the returns of the uninformed (3.21%) and see
that those that want to learn and earn more can do so through these 2 websites.

Pros: The stock option people know their stuff and that was very helpful.
Cons: These reps have an attitude - every single time I've called.

When I dial in for customer service and enter my SS#, My DOB, and my zip code, the last thing I want to do is now verbally repeat everything that I just entered in to the phone.  If everything matched, why do I now need to re-tell the person out loud? 
Its for my protection they say.  Repeating out loud for anyone and everyone around me to hear all of my very personal information  is actually a direct violation of my privacy.

The 3 question survey at the end of the customer call doesn't allow me to convey that your representatives are consistently rude!
I also don't appreciate having my SS# being my account number.  Again, disrespectful of my privacy - especially with the amount of fraud out there.