[alnorth]

Now that I think about it, if you work for a very small employer with only a few employees and they put in a 401k plan, the custodian may demand that you only choose funds with higher fees, since your company isnt giving them enough money for it to be worth it otherwise.

I do know that there are a few small employers out there where the only choices the employees have all have these obscene front-end loads, in which case they are stuck with it and need to figure out if its worth it to participate beyond the match. (If not, I'd still do self-directed IRA's on your own where you do have the ability to choose good funds.)

For the vast majority of people in 401k plans, there are several choices which have reasonably low fees.