Am I supposed to leave my 401k alone or is there something ...

[stephen4785]

I need to be doing? The company I work for has a bad ass 401k plan. They match dollar for dollar up to 15% of your pay. I put in the max at 15%. Is there anything I should be doing with it or do I just leave it alone since it's through my work? I went and talked to a financial advisor from the company that handle our retirement and he showed us some different charts, graphs, and something that had about 100-200 multi coloured boxes on it.
I understood what he was saying I just dont trust "financial advisers".
I know jack crap about retirement stuff other than knowing you need to contribute as much as you can afford for a long time to have a lot of money later down the road(sounds really redneck when it's put like that).

[YALE]

Pay Slow99 to set it up. You need to allocate your cash into funds that'll match your retirement plans.

[topher]

I need to be doing? The company I work for has a bad ass 401k plan. They match dollar for dollar up to 15% of your pay. I put in the max at 15%. Is there anything I should be doing with it or do I just leave it alone since it's through my work? I went and talked to a financial advisor from the company that handle our retirement and he showed us some different charts, graphs, and something that had about 100-200 multi coloured boxes on it.
I understood what he was saying I just dont trust "financial advisers".
I know jack crap about retirement stuff other than knowing you need to contribute as much as you can afford for a long time to have a lot of money later down the road(sounds really redneck when it's put like that).

I was looking into maxing mine out, but I did hear there is a max threshold you can reach annually and once you have that amount in your retirement anything you put in over that the Fed gives back to you and charges you the 30% penalty and taxes on that money as if you cashed that overage out of your 401K. Maybe one of the DFW financial gurus can chime in and confirm this and explain it further.

[YALE]

I was looking into maxing mine out, but I did hear there is a max threshold you can reach annually and once you have that amount in your retirement anything you put in over that the Fed gives back to you and charges you the 30% penalty and taxes on that money as if you cashed that overage out of your 401K. Maybe one of the DFW financial gurus can chime in and confirm this and explain it further.

They give the excess* back to you, and tax it as income because it was diverted pre-tax to begin with*. The maximum is $15,500 per year, and $16,500 if you're over a certain age. Google says:

http://invest-faq.com/articles/ret-plan-401k.html

EDIT: *

[ImayBblack]

I was wondering this as well. When i signed up for mine I chose a "conservative" plan or something like that. I have a good 10 grand in it, so whatever they are doing it works LOL.

[The King]

I was looking into maxing mine out, but I did hear there is a max threshold you can reach annually and once you have that amount in your retirement anything you put in over that the Fed gives back to you and charges you the 30% penalty and taxes on that money as if you cashed that overage out of your 401K. Maybe one of the DFW financial gurus can chime in and confirm this and explain it further.

If you're an baby boomer old fart (over 50) you can contribute up to an additional $5500 over the the current $16500 limit on a pre-tax basis. These limits apply only to what you contribute and do not apply to your employer matching amounts. The base $16500 limit applies to everyone regardless of age.

If you are exceeding these limits, seriously consider putting the extra into a Roth IRA.

[mustangguy289]

If you're an baby boomer old fart (over 50) you can contribute up to an additional $5500 over the the current $16500 limit on a pre-tax basis. These limits apply only to what you contribute and do not apply to your employer matching amounts. The base $16500 limit applies to everyone regardless of age.

If you are exceeding these limits, seriously consider putting the extra into a Roth IRA.

Do these limits include the company matching?

Example: the max is 15,500 so you put in 7,750 and your company matches 7,750.

If you put in 10,000 and your company matches 10,000 for a total of 20K.. would you be taxed on 4500?

[Kenny_Stang]

I need to be doing? The company I work for has a bad ass 401k plan. They match dollar for dollar up to 15% of your pay. I put in the max at 15%. Is there anything I should be doing with it or do I just leave it alone since it's through my work? I went and talked to a financial advisor from the company that handle our retirement and he showed us some different charts, graphs, and something that had about 100-200 multi coloured boxes on it.
I understood what he was saying I just dont trust "financial advisers".
I know jack crap about retirement stuff other than knowing you need to contribute as much as you can afford for a long time to have a lot of money later down the road(sounds really redneck when it's put like that).

Good question, my employer does the exact same thing ( dollar for dollar matchng up to 15%) and I have quite a chunk of change in it now (been at the company 10 years). When the market started tanking I moved it to a "conservative" fund, but now that things have started to pick back up, wonder if I need to move it to a more agressive solution.

If it matters I am 31 and the 401k is managed by JP Morgan.

[The King]

Do these limits include the company matching?

Example: the max is 15,500 so you put in 7,750 and your company matches 7,750.

If you put in 10,000 and your company matches 10,000 for a total of 20K.. would you be taxed on 4500?

The IRS rules say that any company matching amount is not included as part of the $16500 limit on your contributions. The maximum that may contributed to your 401K, including company matching, is the lesser of your annual salary or $49000.

Given that this site has nothing but ballers making at least six figures a year, the $49000 maximum contribution amount from all sources would apply

[GhostTX]

I need to be doing? The company I work for has a bad ass 401k plan. They match dollar for dollar up to 15% of your pay.

Good question, my employer does the exact same thing ( dollar for dollar matchng up to 15%)

Holy crap! Where do y'all work and are there openings?!?! My company only does $0.50 on the dollar up to 6%. They used to do $1:$1 up to 6%, but changed that a year ago.

If you're "young", max it out and IMO, go aggressive funds. As you get closer to retirement, move it to conservative fund and bonds. You have time on your side for the huge swings. Average ROI is 10% on aggressive funds, conservative funds is 5% or less. Also, if your contributions are maxed out for the year, when they refund you, roll that into a Roth-IRA. You already have gone without that cash, might as well put it into another retirement fund.

My $0.02

[Kenny_Stang]

Holy crap! Where do y'all work and are there openings?!?! My company only does $0.50 on the dollar up to 6%. They used to do $1:$1 up to 6%, but changed that a year ago.

I work for Alcon Labs in Fort Worth, they actually put in 5% of our salary into our 401k automatically, then match employee contributions dollar for dollar up to 15%.

I'm not sure on job openings, but this is our job posting site: https://careers.alcon.com/joblist.html

[The King]

Holy crap! Where do y'all work and are there openings?!?! My company only does $0.50 on the dollar up to 6%. They used to do $1:$1 up to 6%, but changed that a year ago.

If you're "young", max it out and IMO, go aggressive funds. As you get closer to retirement, move it to conservative fund and bonds. You have time on your side for the huge swings. Average ROI is 10% on aggressive funds, conservative funds is 5% or less. Also, if your contributions are maxed out for the year, when they refund you, roll that into a Roth-IRA. You already have gone without that cash, might as well put it into another retirement fund.

My $0.02

agrred, the 15% matching contribution is generous indeed.

[mustangguy289]

I work for Alcon Labs in Fort Worth, they actually put in 5% of our salary into our 401k automatically, then match employee contributions dollar for dollar up to 15%.

I'm not sure on job openings, but this is our job posting site: https://careers.alcon.com/joblist.html

You are right down the street from me.

[Kenny_Stang]

You are right down the street from me.

Where do you work? Miller? Ben E. Keith?

[Broncojohnny]

If you're an baby boomer old fart (over 50) you can contribute up to an additional $5500 over the the current $16500 limit on a pre-tax basis. These limits apply only to what you contribute and do not apply to your employer matching amounts. The base $16500 limit applies to everyone regardless of age.

If you are exceeding these limits, seriously consider putting the extra into a Roth IRA.

This.

It isn't too late to move your 401k money to more risky investments but to be honest you have already missed the boat as far as making a ton of money using that strategy, as the market has recovered significantly. I know a number of people who moved their 401k money to cash when this all started and refused to move it back and have now missed out on making a lot of money.