Thursday 9 June 2011

The Benefits of Using a 401K Plan to Save for Retirement

By Adam Ciboch


You're a typical working American, like the millions of others in your situation out there, you probably want to retire as soon as possible. You're going to need to plan for several decades of savings once you're retired if you want to be able to accomplish this. Although it is technically an option, if you think its wisest to put a portion of your earnings directly into a savings account, you would be wrong. You're going to need to learn more about 401K plans for that.

The main purpose of a 401K retirement savings plan is to allow a United States employee to plan for retirement by saving money. You'll see the most benefit to a 401K plan when you look at it in terms of taxes. A portion of each paycheck you receive has taxes taken out by the federal and state government. You'll obviously see some of this returned to you after you file your annual taxes, but its immediate impact is making saving for retirement a little more difficult on you. Because money you designate to be put automatically into a 401K retirement plan isn't actually available for you to earn or spend, it has the added benefit of current income tax deferral until you withdraw it later.

Your employer may offer a 401K retirement plan as an option after you've worked for them a certain amount of months or years. Your employer may even offer incentives in an effort to help you build your retirement savings. A popular option for employers is sometimes to offer to match up to a specific percentage amount that you choose to put into your 401K out of each paycheck. You may be surprised to hear that some employers will match as high as 10%. It's like getting money for free, in a way. So, if you want a way to save for retirement that's quick and easy, this is an option you should consider.

Different other companies are where the money put into your 401K is invested. The safer the risk is assumed to be, the more you diversify your interests. It only affects a small portion of your overall 401K savings if one investment's value drops, assuming you've diversified property. An EFT (Exchange Traded Fund) or an REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) would both be places to invest in real estate if you're interest in going that route.

You can probably see how the 401K retirement plan can benefit you by helping add to your retirement savings. With employers often offering matching incentives and the myriad of different areas in which you can choose to invest your 401K money, there are a lot of options available. You may have more detailed questions, and in that case, you should consider consulting a financial advisor.




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