The Worst 401(k) Plans
Special Report: Investing in Retirement
How does your 401(k) plan stack up against others? BrightScope, a new online database with data on more than 1,000 plans, rates all plans based on criteria like participation rate, default rate, fees, and employer match. It uses more than 200 data points to come up with an overall BrightScope rating for each plan. Here are the 50 worst plans (with at least $100 million in assets) based on BrightScope's overall rating. Many retailers and restaurant chains rate poorly, in part, because of their high turnover and their large numbers of low-earning workers.
Click column heading once to reorder from highest to lowest. Click twice to reorder from lowest to highest.
Rank | Company Name | Rating | Net Plan Assets (in millions) ($) | Total Participants ($) | Avg. Account Balance ($) |
| Darden Restaurants | 586 | 74,000 | 7,900 | ||
| Big Lots | 155 | 28,000 | 5,500 | ||
| Radioshack | 279 | 27,000 | 10,000 | ||
| Zale | 123 | 10,000 | 12,000 | ||
| Compass Group USA | 366 | 79,000 | 4,600 | ||
| Bob Evans Farms | 165 | 30,000 | 5,600 | ||
| MPS Group | 144 | 21,000 | 6,700 | ||
| O'Reilly Automotive | 141 | 17,000 | 8,500 | ||
| Best Buy | 690 | 82,000 | 8,500 | ||
| Pep Boys | 144 | 12,000 | 12,000 | ||
| CSK Auto | 106 | 10,000 | 11,000 | ||
| Lowe's | 2,790 | 220,000 | 13,000 | ||
| Whole Foods Market | 171 | 25,000 | 6,700 | ||
| Bon-Ton Stores | 234 | 25,000 | 9,400 | ||
| Safeway * | 158 | 7,900 | 20,000 | ||
| Northrop Grumman | 1,270 | 27,000 | 47,000 | ||
| AutoNation | 402 | 31,000 | 13,000 | ||
| Penske Automotive Group | 171 | 22,000 | 7,900 | ||
| TCF Financial | 228 | 9,700 | 24,000 | ||
| OfficeMax | 543 | 27,000 | 20,000 | ||
| Safeway * | 1,380 | 130,000 | 10,000 | ||
| Federal-Mogul | 268 | 13,000 | 20,000 | ||
| Kirby | 101 | 2,800 | 36,000 | ||
| Borders Group | 147 | 19,000 | 7,700 | ||
| Harsco | 136 | 4,300 | 31,000 | ||
| Cabela's | 197 | 13,000 | 16,000 | ||
| Kohl's | 401 | 52,000 | 7,700 | ||
| Pactiv | 106 | 7,300 | 15,000 | ||
| Affiliated Computer Services | 590 | 51,000 | 12,000 | ||
| Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide | 631 | 51,000 | 12,000 | ||
| Wal-Mart Stores | 9,890 | 1,080,000 | 9,200 | ||
| Tyson Foods | 1,050 | 93,000 | 11,000 | ||
| Kindred Healthcare | 410 | 53,000 | 7,700 | ||
| Burger King Holdings | 121 | 9,200 | 13,000 | ||
| Lear | 248 | 20,000 | 13,000 | ||
| La-Z-Boy | 164 | 15,000 | 11,000 | ||
| Target | 4,870 | 240,000 | 20,000 | ||
| Wyndham Worldwide | 270 | 18,000 | 15,000 | ||
| JCPenney Corp. | 4,620 | 120,000 | 38,000 | ||
| Convergys | 460 | 37,000 | 12,000 | ||
| Community Health Systems | 307 | 33,000 | 9,200 | ||
| The Home Depot | 2,690 | 360,000 | 7,600 | ||
| Harrah's Entertainment | 1,500 | 71,000 | 21,000 | ||
| Service Corp. International | 229 | 15,000 | 15,000 | ||
| Boyd Gaming | 169 | 13,000 | 14,000 | ||
| J.B. Hunt Transport Services | 327 | 18,000 | 18,000 | ||
| LifePoint Hospitals | 279 | 27,000 | 10,000 | ||
| Ruddick | 202 | 25,000 | 8,100 | ||
| UniFirst | 163 | 8,100 | 20,000 | ||
| DaVita | 457 | 32,000 | 14,000 | ||
* Safeway plan ranked No. 15 is for Dominick's Finer Foods' union employees; No.21 is for Safeway employees.
Source: BrightScope. Data are most recent available.
