EXCERPT:

"The labor department and three Industry groups unveiled a 401k disclosure form Thursday that aims to help businesses compare costs of competing plans.

"The groups hope that making comparisons easier will encourage more small businesses to adopt retirement savings plans."

OTHER POINTS:

Form created by American Bankers Association, American Council of Life Insurers, and Investment Co. Institute, a mutual fund trade group, at the request of the DOL

Form limited in that it only works in comparisons of like plans (in plans with similar fee structures).

Businesses won't be required to use the form.

"(The form's) primary value would be to help a (business) better understand the fees of an existing plan," USA Today quotes Paul Yakoboski, senior research associate at the Employee Benefit Research Institute, a non-profit organization.

Go to the Department of Labor's website at www.dol.gov for a copy of the new form.

For complete text, contact USA Today.