Peter J. Creedon

I think the issue is due to confusing gross income and taxable income.  When you contribute to a 401(k) retirement account you are making a pre-tax contribution, thereby not paying tax on the money today. Under the retirement rules the money grows tax deferred until the day you make withdrawals, then you are taxed on the amounts you withdraw during that year. Your gross income does not change, just taxable income. As an example if you earn $100,000 (gross Income) and you contribute $15,000 to your 401(K), your taxable income will be $85,000, but your gross income is still (remains) $100,000. If you check your year end W-2 or 1099 statements you will see how the taxable income and gross income are entered.

Another term you may encounter for benefits is Adjusted Gross Income which is your gross income minus adjustments to income, which is located on the bottom of the first page of you tax return.

Reinsurance is a way a company lowers their risk or exposure to an untoward event. The thought is, no insurance company has too much exposure to a particular large event/ disaster that if one company assumed the risk on their own, and the event happened, the insurance company cost would bankrupt or financially ruin the insurance company and possibly not cover the loss for the original company that paid the insurance premium. As an example, a large hurricane makes landfall in Florida and causes billions of dollars of damage. If one company had sold all the homeowners insurance, the chance of covering the losses would not be likely. Instead, the retail insurance company spreads parts of the coverage to other insurance companies (reinsurance), thereby spreading the cost of  risk to many insurance companies. A benefit of reinsurance is a retail company can can service more people in an area because they only keep/are responsible/exposed to a portion of the total coverage.

You can always buy or sell stock without a brokers assistance. This is why there are discount brokers so you can place trades at a minimal cost and skip the broker advice and commissions. The real question you need to answer is "do I want and feel comfortable to go it alone?" Trading is pretty easy, but is trading by your self the right course for you? Buying and selling a stock is not rocket science, but you need to know the rules and expectations of you and your trade.

Before signing up with a discount broker, I suggest you understand your objectives, risk tolerance, time horizon, have a buy and sell strategy and understand what you want from the on line broker (Research, charts, company info, execution needs, exact costs and payment terms) as well as assistance/ help if you have questions or problems, and many other items besides costs. There are a number of big companies that are well know that make it pretty easy to open, fund an account and start trading. Usual costs are $5 to $20 per trade, with most somewhere around $8. Comparison shop a few of the firms and narrow down the selection to one that you feel comfortable and matches your needs. Some let you take their platform for a free trial.

Also, if you want to buy a mutual fund looking at one of the bigger companies (Vanguard, Fidelity etc,.) allow you to trade many of their funds or Exchange traded funds for no cost.

There are/ can be several fees associated with an ETF purchase. The transaction costs can vary on where you purchase the ETF through, such as direct, discount broker or broker. ETFs look like a mutual fund, but most trade like stocks. Understand the difference and most costs will become clearer. You can roughly break costs into 2 major categories, ETF company management costs and broker transaction costs. 

An expense ratio reflects the cost of managing and operating the Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) by the company that offers/ manages the product (Vanguard, I Shares etc.). It is usually one of the costs associated with an ETF. The expense ratio is the behind the scenes cost usually expressed in bps (basis points) or percentage form. 100 bps equals 1%. The cost is an annualized cost and is usually deducted by the managing company before you earn your return. As an example, a S&P 500 ETF with an expense ration of 7 bps is $7 per $1,000. The expense ratio is outlined in the funds prospectus with examples and on the offering companies web site.

Most other fees deal with the place you buy the ETF through (broker/ dealer) are transaction costs. Costs/ fees you may be liable for include: a trading commission or a cost to buy or sell the ETF. This cost can vary depending on the custodian/ broker dealer channel you buy it through. If you use one of the discount brokers, like Schwab, Vanguard or Fidelity, there are a number of products including many ETF's you can buy or sell without a commission. The trading costs can vary from broker to broker so select your broker dealer carefully after reviewing all their costs. There may be an additional fee when selling the ETF. These may vary depending on the channel you use for the transaction.

There can also be miscellaneous costs such as: "an SEC or handling costs" that will also vary with the broker dealer you select.

Your question is a good one, but I suggest doing additional reading/research to learn all the different costs and risks associated with Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) as well as how they are made up (the ETF). Expense ratio costs are only part of the picture. Other important considerations include: liquidity, leverage, other transaction fees and tax costs to name a few. Space prohibits fully answering your question. A good place to start in figuring and understanding the true cost, is divide the costs between the issuing company and the broker dealer transactional fees.