I present this here only as a reminder to my dear, dear wife. It’s the same advice you hear over and over again, but it bears repeating, because it’s good advice. Our company happens to have a very generous matching plan, which I take advantage of as vigorously as I can. Would lowering my participation in the plan free up mo money each paycheck? Sure. But I’m one of those people who likes to look to the future, and if there’s something I can do now to help prepare us for life down the road, I’m on it, generally speaking.
Don’t pass up free-money 401(k) plans
Employer-match 401(k) plans work well that way for many. Although some young workers bristle at tying up their money for so long, an employer match is one of life’s rare free-money opportunities that are too good to pass up.“So many people tell me, ‘I can’t afford the 401(k), I’ll do that in a couple years when I’m settled,'” says Aretakis. “You can’t afford to wait.”
Say your company will match 50 percent of your contributions, up to 6 percent of your salary. And let’s imagine you earn $40,000. If you agree to contribute 6 percent, or $2,400, your company would add another $1,200 to the pot. That’s a 50 percent return on your money without even putting it into a risky stock fund.
On top of that, you’re putting away money on a pretax basis, which lowers your income base when it comes to paying the tax piper.
“If you’re getting taxed maybe 25 percent state and federal, you just made 25 percent on your money, plus whatever cumulative interest you’re going to make on top of that every year by putting it into a diversified account. You can’t get any better return than that,” says Aretakis.
Of course, you will have to pay taxes on that money eventually, but in the meantime it can grow unfettered by taxes.