Search this site:

Savings Fitness A Guide To Your Money and Your Financial Future

FCIC: Savings Fitness: A Guide To Your Money and Your Financial Future

Content Highlights

A Financial Warm-up

Your Savings Fitness Dream

How's Your Financial Fitness?

Avoiding Financial Setbacks

Boost Your Financial Performance

Strengthening Your Fitness Plan

Personal Financial Fitness

Maximizing Your Workout Potential

Employer Fitness Program

Financial Fitness for the Self-Employed


Staying On Track

A Lifetime of Financial Growth

A Workout Worth Doing

Resources

text version
pdf version

Savings Fitness:
A Guide To Your Money and Your Financial Future

Image of a woman pointing to a board with an XYZ plan, 401(k), and  an IRAEmployer Fitness Program

Using Employer-Based Retirement Plans

Does your employer provide a retirement plan? If so, say retirement experts ... grab it! Employer-based plans are the most effective way to save for your future. What's more, you'll gain certain tax benefits. Employer-based plans come in one of two varieties (some employers provide both): defined benefit and defined contribution.

How To Make The Most Of A Defined Contribution Plan

  • Study your employee handbook and talk to your benefits administrator to see what plan is offered and what its rules are. Read the summary plan description for specifics. Plans must follow federal law, but they can still vary widely in contribution limitations, investment options, employer matches, and other features.
  • Join as soon as you become eligible.
  • Put in the maximum amount allowed.
  • If you can't afford the maximum, try to contribute enough to maximize any employer matching funds. This is free money!
  • Study carefully the menu of investment choices. Some plans offer only a few choices, others may offer hundreds. The more you know about the choices, investing, and your investment goals, the more likely you will choose wisely.
  • Many companies match employee contributions with stock instead of cash. Financial experts often recommend that you don't let your account get overloaded with company stock, particularly if the account makes up most of your retirement nest egg. Too much of a single stock increases risk.
  • Plan fees and expenses reduce the amount of retirement benefits you ultimately receive from plans where you direct the investments. It's in your interest to learn as much as you can about your plan's administrative fees, investment fees, and service fees. Read
    the plan documents carefully. For more information on fees, call EBSA's toll-free line at 866-444-EBSA (3272) and request the booklet A Look at 401(k) Plan Fees.

Defined Benefit Plans. These plans pay a lump sum upon retirement or a guaranteed monthly benefit. The amount of payout is typically based on a set formula, such as the number of years you have worked for the employer times a percentage of your highest earnings on the job. Usually the employer funds the plan - commonly called a pension plan-though in some plans workers also contribute. Most defined benefit plans are insured by the federal government.

Defined Contribution Plans. The popular 401 (k) plan is one type of defined contribution plan. Unlike a defined benefit plan, this type of savings arrangement does not guarantee a specified amount for retirement. Instead, the amount you have available in the plan to help fund your retirement will depend on how long you participate in the plan, how much is invested, and how well the investments do over the years. The federal government does not guarantee how much you accumulate in your account, but it does protect the account assets from misuse by the employer.

In the past 20 years, defined contribution plans have become more common than traditional pension plans. Employers fund some types of defined contribution plans, though the amount of their contributions is not necessarily guaranteed.

Workers with a pension are more likely to be covered by a defined contribution plan, usually a 401 (k) plan, rather than the traditional defined benefit plan. In many defined contribution plans, you are offered a choice of investment options, and you must decide where to invest your contributions. This shifts much of the responsibility for retirement planning to workers. Thus, it is critical that you choose to contribute to the plan once you become eligible (usually after working full time for a minimum period) and that you choose your investments wisely.

Tax Breaks. Even though you typically are responsible for funding a defined contribution plan, you receive important tax breaks. The money you invest in the plan and the earnings on those contributions are deferred from income tax until you withdraw the money (hopefully not until retirement). Why is that important? Because postponing taxes on what you earn allows your nest egg to grow faster. Remember the power of compounding? The larger the amount you have to compound, the faster it grows. Even after the withdrawals are taxed, you typically come out ahead.

The tax deduction also means that the decline in your take-home pay, because of your contribution, won't be as large as you might think. For example, let's assume you are thinking about putting $100 into retirement plan each month and that the rate you pay on income taxes is 15 percent. If you don't put that $100 into a retirement plan, you'll pay $15 in taxes on it. If you put in $100, you postpone the taxes. Thus, your $100 retirement plan contribution would actually reduce your take-home pay by only $85. If you're in the 27 percent tax bracket, the cost of the $100 contribution is only $73. This is like buying your retirement at a discount.

Vesting Rules. Any money you put into a retirement plan out of your pay, and earnings on those contributions, always belong to you. However, contrary to popular belief, employees don't always have immediate access to the money their employer puts into their pension fund or their defined contribution plan. Under some plans, such as a traditional pension plan or a 401(k), you have to work for a certain number of years-say 5-before you become "vested" and can receive benefits. Some plans vest in stages. Other defined contribution plans, such as the SEP and the SIMPLE IRA, vest immediately. You have access to the employer's contributions the day the money is deposited. No employer can require you to work longer than 7 years before you become vested in your pension benefit.

Be aware of the vesting rules in your employer's plan.

Make sure you know when you're vested. Changing jobs too quickly can mean losing part or all of your pension plan benefits or, at the very least, your employer's matching contributions.

Retirement Planning For Employees In Small Companies

Only about 2 out of every 10 small employers with fewer than 100 employees offer some type of retirement plan or pension to their employees. Many believe their workers prefer higher salaries or other benefits, and they believe the rules are too complex and the costs too high.

If you don't have a plan available at work, encourage your employer to start one. Mention the following benefits:

  • A retirement plan can attract and retain valued employees in a competitive labor market, as well as motivate workers.
  • Establishing a retirement plan and encouraging employee participation can help employers fund their own retirement. Even after taking into account the cost of establishing an employee plan, employers may still be better off than funding retirement on their own.
  • Some plans cost less and have fewer administrative hassles than employers may realize. Alternatives to traditional defined benefit plans and the 401(k) include the SIMPLE and the SEP.

For more information, contact EBSA at 1-866-444-3272 and request Savings Incentive Match Plans for Employees of Small Employers, Simplified Employee Pensions: What Small Businesses Need to Know, and Choosing a Retirement Solution for Your Small Business.

Retirement Plan Rights. The federal government regulates and monitors company retirement plans. The vast majority of employers does an excellent job in complying with federal law. Unfortunately, a small fraction doesn't. For 10 warning signs and other information on protecting your pension rights, call EBSA's toll-free number at 1-866-444-3272 and request the booklet Protect Your Pension.

Search this site:


Get the Savvy Consumer Newsletter! (FREE)