Many companies offer their employees free matching funds for their retirement. According to CNBC, 17.5 million Americans leave this free retirement money on the table. Is this you? 
401K retirement account contributions are pre-tax, therefore lowering your taxable income. CNBC says that 17% of employees don’t contribute. Why not? Many people say they don’t have the funds to contribute to their retirement. Among those that do contribute, 12% don’t get the full matching funds.
When I worked at Norwalk Community College, one of the first things I did was read the entire employee manual. Yes, it was long, but it had valuable information that I could take advantage of. I chose the alternate retirement plan. For me that meant, I would have to contribute 5% of my gross income to receive the matching funds. As soon as I was eligible, I enrolled. In this particular plan, I was given 8% matching funds. Why wouldn’t I do this? For me, this was a no brainer. I have always accepted free money.
If you have accepted your free money, congratulate yourself. If not, enroll today (or as soon as you are eligible). You don’t want to pass up free money.
Leave a Reply