401k Benefits For Employees – Building a Secure and Safe Financial Future

Saving money for future is one of the most vital things to do when you are employed. It’s not a simple task but it is a necessary one that will bear fruits when you reach your retirement age. A 401k plan is a tax qualified contribution based pension account into which a certain amount of money is put in from the employee and the employer. This amount will not be taxable as long as you don’t withdraw it prematurely. It is meant to be a retirement savings plan and therefore should not be touched ideally until you reach your retirement age.

What are some of the 401k Benefits for Employees?

1) Automatic Savings

In a 401k plan, the money will be deducted from your salary pre-tax and transferred into the 401k account every month. The most difficult part of saving money is in actually resisting the urge to spend all your money and this solves that problem very efficiently.

2) Tax Savings

Your contribution is taken before tax is levied and so your taxable income will be significantly less than what you would have to pay if you don’t have a 401k plan.

3) Better and Faster Savings

As your contributions grow without incurring any taxes, your savings can actually grow faster than a traditional investment plan in a brokerage firm or a bank.

4) Supplementing Social Security

Deciding when to draw social security is a difficult task in itself. When it is taken, you will often find that it falls quite short of the income you are used to when employed. A 401k plan can help you fill the gap better by giving you a good amount of money when you reach your retirement age.

5) Potential Loans

One of the most useful 401k benefits for employees is the ability to take loans based on special conditions for various reasons ranging from buying a house, medical expenses, education and so on. The amount of interest levied on these loans is usually lesser than traditional loans offered by banks.

Pre Mature Withdrawal of your 401k Savings

You can choose to withdraw your savings prematurely as a last resort if needed but you will have to incur penalties for doing so. If you are under the age of 59 , you might incur a 10 percent penalty along with paying taxes on the amount withdrawn which may end up being a substantial amount. The procedure for withdrawing the amount will depend on the employer as well as the type of withdrawal you go for. It is important to note that not all employers allow you to withdraw in advance. You will have to check with the H.R. department first to find out if such an option is available. A better way would be to take a loan out instead against your 401k savings as you will be able to get the amount you seek and pay it back at the same time.

If you have a 401k complaint or question, you can always contact the department of labor and file a claim on the EBSA website. Everything you need to know about the various procedures for doing so can be found there. Another place where you can find a lot of information pertaining to your retirement income is to learn more about the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).