Comments on: No Employer 401k Match – Should you still contribute?

By: Thinking About Retirement - A Stroll Through My Blogroll

Thinking About Retirement - A Stroll Through My Blogroll — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 05:02:08 +0000

[...] Clever Dude wrote this post a few months ago – but now that we are nearing the end of the year – I think folks might find the information to be very, very useful – Should you contribute to your 401K, even if you get no match? [...]

By: 401K Matching and Vesting at Clever Dude Personal Finance & Money

401K Matching and Vesting at Clever Dude Personal Finance & Money — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 13:19:56 +0000

[...] Such wrote up an excellent article about 401k Matching Pitfalls. After waiting for a year before my employer began matching contributions, I finally began contributing to my 401k this past May (my 1 year anniversary at my [...]

By: » Retirement Round Up - Benchmarks Reviewed, Order Explained & More on My Retirement Blog

Mon, 16 Apr 2007 02:18:23 +0000

[...] Clever Dude’s take on contributing to a 401k without an employer match. While I think you should do it to reduce your taxes and save a little money, his reason is a good [...]

By: fivecentnickel.com

fivecentnickel.com — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 23:23:24 +0000

Weekly Roundup – 04/13/07…

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By: Clever Dude Opinion Poll: How much is your federal tax refund/payment? at Clever Dude Personal Finance & Money

Fri, 13 Apr 2007 15:20:58 +0000

[...] We owed over $1,000 in federal income tax this year because we had quite a bit more income in 2006 than in 2005, without increasing our deductions. I mentioned this in “No Employer 401k Match – Should you still contribute?“. [...]

By: MossySF

MossySF — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 16:49:08 +0000

Back when I started working in my first fulltime job, the employer didn’t have a single dime of matching. However, I still put the max allowed by the IRS which was just 15% back then. While I didn’t get any matching, I did get the benefit of the greatest bull market ever with 25% of my allocation in T.Rowe Price Science and Technology (dotcom, networking, computer companies). Luckily, that company I went for went bust in 98 and told everybody to get the hell off the 401k plan — and I moved the money into my own IRA mid 99. That saved me from the dotbomb period in 2000. Basically, my market gains were probably 4X larger than I ever could have gotten than the typical matching.

Another personal annecdote – while I was still going to college, I worked part-time. Two of the companies I worked for offered 401Ks and allowed part-timers to participate. My thinking back then was how will $1000 per year (max at 15% IRS limit) going to help? Flash forward to 15 years later — doing some calculations based on the S&P500 and I get $35K! @$#$@^%@$!!! And no, I didn’t need the money because I went to a cheap school while living at home.

A final note about poor 401K plans, being able to rollover a big lumpsum to your own IRA gives you a lot of flexibility later in your investment choices. So even if an employer offered no matching and poor choices, I’d still contribute the max possible because I knew in a few years, I would have complete control of the money.

By: retroman

retroman — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 15:15:22 +0000

just got laid off a job 1 week before 401k match in effect… I signed up for one 2 days ago. And it counts for tax year 2006 – it’s not too late!

By: realist

realist — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 02:30:18 +0000

put the money in for series ee bonds for whenever the kiddies go to college…