My Retirement Blog

Category: 401K

  • New 401K Debit Card Legislation

    I’m not a big fan of 401(k) debit or credit cards because I’m not a fan of raiding your retirement accounts to pay for non-retirement expenses. I think that the retirement bucket should essentially be a lockbox (*gasp* the dreaded lockbox phrase) that you don’t touch unless you’re actually retiring. However, the cat’s been let…

  • Five 401(k) Mistakes

    No matter who takes a crack at 401(k) mistakes, they invariably come up with the same advice over and over again. That’s not to say it’s not worth reading, it definitely is, but it shows that the basics of how to take advantage of a 401(k) are easy and simply bear repeating. The latest 401(k)…

  • Automatic 401(k) Participation

    I have no idea why 401(k) participation wasn’t automatic in the first place and why it took the Pension Protection Act of 2006 to make it possible. The benefits of the law are already being seen as Nationwide Financial Services reported that 96% of employees are now saving for their retirement versus 74% in 2006.…

  • Professional Investment Advice for your 401(k)

    It’s been reported in Money on CNN Money that approximately 25% of employers with 401(k) plans are now offering professional investment advice for their employees for a fee of 0.4% to 1%. What they’ll do is take a look at all of your funds and help you select the right mix given your situation and…

  • Should You Invest In A Non-Matching 401K?

    My wife works at a relatively small startup-type company that has a 401(k) plan but offers no employer match. One of the things I had researched was whether it was a good idea to put funds towards a 401(k) plan or if other options were better for her and broke it down to several considerations.…

  • Retirement Account Catch-Up Rules

    Catching up is hard to do, unless you’re talking retirement savings and you have the power of the US Government behind you. The contribution limits for various retirement accounts are increased if you are over the age of 50 and you can use them to your advantage if you didn’t contribute as much in your…

  • Ask Your Company to Match 401(k) Contributions

    If your company doesn’t match 401(k) contributions, email them. Email them, write a letter, collect signatures for a petition, do whatever you want but contact them and let them know that it’s important to you and other people in your company for the match to be offered. This is especially true if you don’t have…

  • 3 Reasons I Rolled Over My 401(k)

    I’ve left two jobs in the last five years and each time I rolled over my 401(k) into a Rollover IRA held at Vanguard. In both cases, I rolled over the IRA within a few months of departing my job and I did so for a small handful of reasons.  I know now that I…

  • What Is The Roth 401(k)?

    You may have heard about the Roth 401(k) and the Roth IRA and wondered, what is the difference and why is this guy Roth putting his name on everything? To be fair, the guy Roth was Former Sen. William V. Roth Jr. (he passed away in late 2007) and he was the man most responsible…