401K: How much do you contribute?

[Dawgs]

How much do you contribute into your company 401K (not including company match)?

[Lerkfish]

1. I contributed until I lost my job last december, and then I cashed it out

taking the penalty, its part of what I'm living on since then.

[stray cat]

2. My job doesn't match contributions - so I think saving for a house may be a better investment

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

5. Use a Roth IRA

Interest free savings and you can use the proceeds as a down payment on a first home. And you may qualify for the Saver's Credit.

[dave29]

15. sorry to barge in on the thread.. what is the savers credit?

I am currently saving in my ROTH, thinking of bumping up contribs so I can potentially use as downpayment on first home.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

18. Don't you ever KNOCK?!

Kidding. :)

The Savers Credit provides a non-refundable tax credit to persons who make contributions to an employer savings plan or an IRA. The credit is up to $1,000 -- but it's got a very low phaseout. If you're MFJ, the phaseout starts at $32K and phases out entirely at $53K

Here's a good article on the subject. IM me if you have any other questions.

http://www.investopedia.com/articles/retirement/04/031704.asp

[safeinOhio]

3. Retired

withdraw 10%/year.

[quiller4]

13. I'm retired now, too, but in my working days I contributed the max.

[rucky]

4. -20%

right now. the penalties are gonna hurt, but what can you do?

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

7. Check with your plan administrator

You may have the option for hardship withdrawals -- doesn't eliminate the tax and penalty but, depending on the plan, it may give you some options.

[Robb]

6. 403(b), and nothing.

We've halted contributions and are using the money to pay down a high-interest credit card each month instead.

[RoadRage]

8. enough to make sure I max it out at the end of the year..

I'm paid via commission for the majority of my paycheck.. so pay fluctuates up & down month-to-month. I just try to make sure that I end up maxing out the contribution at the end of the year. I'm only 32 years old.. and frankly, I know that Social Security is probably not going to be around when I am ready to retire. So, I live in a smaller house, drive an older car and make due so that I can max out my contribution.

[MercutioATC]

9. The IRS maximum ($16.500 last year)

[tammywammy]

10. 8%, and I get 7% from my company on top of that. n/t

[MercutioATC]

11. That's a generous match.

I only get 5%.

[tammywammy]

17. It breaks down

I get 4% on the 8% I put in as a match (that's the max match). Then as an employee here they automatically put 3% of your salary (their own money, none of mine) into a 401k account as well, mine is in the retire 2045 account (more aggressive now while I'm young and it moves more conservatively over the years), but I can move it if I want. So I total out at 7% match for my 8% put in. When I started this job back at the end of July I started with the 8% in, so I only had my first paycheck before it was automatically taken out, so it's like I never missed it.

My last job before they cut out match, only did up to $500/year anyways, so it was a joke. I still put away 6% each week, at least it was saving up, and I had a good amount when I was laid off to roll over.

[MercutioATC]

20. We get an automatic 1% (their money)

Then 1% match for the first 3% we put in, then 1/2% for the next 2% we put in...so they "match" our first 5%, but on a graduated scale.

I had to zero out my 401k when I got divorced 12 years ago, but I've been maxing it out for a while and I had a few really good years of gains, so it's doing ok. I got out of equities in Jan. 2007 so I missed the crash, but I also missed the bull run of the last 8 months. Overall, though, I'm still ahead.

[high density]

12. 5% + $5k a year in my IRA

Hopefully I can get that up to 6 or 7% this year or even more once my car is paid off.

[dave29]

14. no matching, so I am contributing about 2 % (what I can afford) to a ROTH

.

[brooklynite]

16. I have access to both a 401(k) and a 457...

and I salt away as much money as I'm allowed to.

[demodonkey]

19. How about 0% because I am not paid for the work I do....... nt

[Brickbat]

21. When I was employed, I set aside 1% and, IIRC, got some kind of match. But now I work from home. Mr.

Brickbat is enrolled in several pensions, both defined benefit and defined contribution, as well as a railroad pension.

[CreekDog]

22. 10% per year +employer 5% match...strangely, 2009 was my best year ever

I was diversified in 2008, so I took a beating (20% loss), but at the bottom (March) I moved a little more than 5% of my total 401k from Treasuries into stock index funds and a month later about 10% into stock index funds. And the market has gone up about 20% since.

My thinking was that either things were undervalued and/or, if they were going to continue to go down, I have bigger problems than worrying about 5% of my 401k. I combined that thought with the idea that good investments are when you support something good that nobody else will touch. The cheaper stocks got, marginal investment opportunities became good ones --yet few were buying. You have to be willing to invest when nobody else will.

[NavyMom]

23. I work for a Community Bank, they match 100% of the first 8% plus

a cash balance plan, defined benefit plan, PS contributions once per year,along with safe harbor contributions added 3rd qtr last year. My total contributions for retirement last year will top $50k or more, we voted to forgo raises for the last two years our last raise was the first qtr in 2006 so the CEO asked if we would forgo raised if for two or three years if he increased the benefits so the majority ruled.

He stated in 2006 we were in for a volatility in the market, not our company but other markets and our FDIC insurance has increased over 10% each year so these increases in our benefits was, to me, a no brainer. Was informed these benefits were amended to our trust documents so this will become permanent for all employees hired prior to January 2008 but new employees will not receive the QNEC nor the cash balance since they were not subjected to the lost of income for 3 years, good payoff as far as I'm concerned.

[DailyGrind51]

24. My employer only offers a 403B and I can't afford to contribute to that!