Good Financial Reads: Understanding Your 401(k)

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Catch up on some of the latest posts with this week's roundup:

Are you Fully Vested?

Have you ever looked at your retirement account statement and noticed two different account balances?  The first being an account balance and the second being the vested account balance.  This is because there is a time frame that you have to wait before the employer contributions in your account are vested.  Let’s talk through two common ways this happens.

For every company this is different so it’s important to know which one fits for your company plan.

[Read the Full Article and Watch The Video]

401(k) "Madness"

by Eric Ciancaglini, ForwardFinancial

Over the past year, any news about 401(k)’s most likely involves the words “lawsuit” or “fiduciary breach.” Now, more than ever, employers must make sure they are familiar with their company retirement plan, how it operates, and all costs associated with it. Having quarterly or semi-annual reviews is crucial to making sure the I’s are dotted and the T’s are crossed, especially from a compliance standpoint.
Lawsuits over the past year have involved companies being sued by their own employees for, in layman’s terms, offering a poor 401(k) plan. And when the media started to expose these lawsuits, it caused a domino effect of more lawsuits surfacing, for similar reason;

[Read the Full Article]

Why You Should Invest Outside of Your 401(k)

by Meg Bartelt, Flow Financial Planning, LLC

Are you already saving at least 15% for retirement, and you’ve already built your emergency fund up to cover 6 months of basic expenses, and you still have extra money to save? This is a great opportunity for a taxable investment account, also called a brokerage account.

Your top two priorities, at most any stage, are going to be:

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Free Money May Exist With This Employee Benefit

by Michelle Smalenberger, Financial Design Studio, Inc.

 We all like the idea of free money, so I want to walk you through one area where there may be free money available which you’re not taking advantage of.

In your retirement account you’re putting money in yourself and then your employer may also be willing to put money in as well.  Let’s assume this is all going into your 401(k) or 403(b).  There are a couple of ways this actually happens.  Here are the two most common types of plans:

[Read the Full Article and Watch The Video]