You don't have to invest in funds. You can invest in single stocks.
Uhh, I don't know what 401k plan your company offers but my plan only offers funds and the ability to invest in my company stock.
If you're talking about a 401k, or an IRA, that's your choice to participate. You could invest on your own if you so choose (though you wouldn't get the tax benefits of those type of investment vehicles).
right. So what you are saying is I either invest with my 401k or I miss out on all the benefits and incentives such as reduced taxes, matching contributions, etc. That seems makes sense. I'm feeling freer every second.
Just another note... it is false that you have no way of knowing which corporations those funds invest in. By law (for a qualifying 401k or IRA) you are able to get that information from the fund manager.
I'll give yous this. I could dig through every fund and find out every single company they invest in (which usually is 100s of them) and before long I would probably end up w/o any funds to invest in and be stuck in bonds which would surely reduce my retirement prospects. Not to mention the time to do this is prohibitively expensive...
Try doing some of your homework. Talk to your plan administrator (if through your work) or to your agent (if private) and get the fund prospectus for any fund you are interested in. You'll see where the fund puts its money.
Again, not really much help because I'm still locked in to putting my money in only the funds they offer and the amount of stocks each fund invests in is very large.
Here's a radical thought. How about the companies I am forced to invest in just concentrate on their business and not spending my money on political activities? I know, too crazy to be considered...