Your Employer Wants To Give You Money To Invest
If you have a workplace retirement account, there's a good chance your employer offers a match. That's free money and you should absolutely take advantage of it – it will be the best investment you ever make.
It's called a match because your employer will put money into the account for you to invest if you put money in. They want to incentivize you to be putting money aside for retirement.
Matches can work several different ways. The most common is that they will match a certain percent of your contributions (frequently 50% or 100%) up to a certain percent of your income (frequently 5% or 6%). That's what makes it the absolute best investment you'll ever make: if your employer is matching 50% or 100% of your contribution, that a guaranteed 50% or 100% return on your investment instantly. You won't find any other return on investment anywhere even close to that – let alone guaranteed! Do not pass this up.
The calculator below shows how much that match is worth over time. And that's just the match – it doesn't include your contributions. That's all completely free money!
Company Match Calculator
Total Free Money Over Time
Assumes you contribute at least 6% to get the full match, 7% annual real return, and 40 years until retirement. Match rate of 100% means the company contributes 100 cents for every dollar you contribute, up to 6% of your income.
Go Get The Company Match
To get the company match you need to:
- Confirm whether your employer offers a match and learn the details
- Open your workplace retirement account (if you haven’t already)
- Set your contribution rate high enough to capture the match
It can be a bit of a hassle figuring out how the match works and to open the account and start contributing, but it's totally worth the effort. Think about all that free money! If you don't know how to get started, talk to your human resources or benefits person.