A Retirement Plan That Also Lowers Your Taxes, Wow!
A 401k plan is the most popular type of retirement plan offered by employers large and small today. They are a powerful tool used to promote financial security in retirement years and are a valuable option for businesses considering a retirement plan as part of the benefits offered to employees and their families. With a 401k retirement plan, an employee can choose to contribute a portion of their salary to the plan. Instead of receiving that chosen amount in their paycheck, the employee defers, or delays, getting that money.
With a 401k, this deferred money goes into a 401k plan sponsored by their employer. This deferred money does not get taxed by the federal or state government until it is re-distributed, hopefully at time of retirement when your tax rate will be much lower. Your weekly paycheck will be minus this deferred amount of money but will show a minor increase in take home pay as the taxes, based on the balance after the deferred amount is subtracted, will be less taxes than you were use to paying.
The actual line item details of your personal 401k retirement plan will differ from employer to employer. They may choose different options that will effect your ability to place varying amounts of contribution into your 401k retirement plan as there administrative costs and tax benefits change with each so don’t expect the best that a 401k can offer from every employer but any form of retirement savings is better than trying to rely on Social Security alone, unless you enjoy eating k-9 food.