Seeking those 401k index funds ...

One wrinkle with implementing an index-fund strategy in your 401k is that every financial company has its own list of funds available for selection -- Burns' column focused on Vanguard (with them, the funds he cited for the Margarita Mix are the Total Stock Market Index fund [ticker: VTSMX], Total International Stock index fund [VGTSX] and Inflation Protected Securities fund [VIPSX]), but my 401k is with ING. Picking index funds isn't always straightfoward , or even possible, I found.

Finding an S&P 500 fund analog isn't hard -- the "500" in the fund names tends to be a tip-off. At ING, I'm using the Scudder Equity 500 Index Fund (operating expenses fee: 0.25%). With bonds and international indices, it gets trickier. My plan at ING doesn't have any international index available, so I dug through all my international options and took a stab at the one that seemed to offer the best returns/fee stats. I'm using the Oppenheimer Developing Markets Fund, with a relatively hefty 1.52% fee. After digging through my bond choices, I went with PIMCO VIT Real Return Portfolio, which focuses on inflation-indexed bonds (annual expenses: 0.65%).

Of course, having finally worked all that out, I'm now changing jobs and will need to roll my 401k into my new employer's plan. Watch for a new distribution strategy next month ...