Niv Persaud and her husband had a financial arrangement similar to many couples in the US.
She focused on paying bills and expenses, while he invested heavily in his employer’s 401(K) plan. Although her company offered a generous 401(K) matching plan, she didn’t take advantage of it.
The marriage eventually ended – and Niv missed out on years of potential retirement savings.
Now, three decades later, as a certified financial planner in Atlanta, Georgia, Niv is using her own mistake to ensure others get the most out of the plans offered at their workplace – whether they’re a couple or not.
“What I would suggest for individuals is that if a company offers you a match, it really is free money,” she told DailyMail.com.
Niv Persaud uses her own mistake to ensure others get the most out of the programs offered in their workplace
“Often they only match up to a certain percentage, so if you can at least max out your 401(K) to get that free money, that will help you in the long run,” Niv said.
A 401(K) match occurs when an employer contributes to an employee’s retirement plan, equal to some or all of the funds contributed by the employee.
Match formulas can vary greatly between companies. Some employers match a percentage of employee contributions up to a specific portion of their total salary, typically 3 or 6 percent.
Others may choose to match contributions up to a certain dollar amount, regardless of employee compensation.
Niv would rather not think about how much money she may have lost due to missed contributions, but she is certainly not the only one.
“One of the benefits of my own mistake is that when clients come to me, I don’t judge, because I’ve been there and I know it just happens,” she said.
According to data from the National Bureau of Economic Research, one in four married couples do not maximize employers who match contributions to 401(K) retirement plans, effectively leaving free money on the table.
The supervision — committed by 24 percent of couples — typically costs them $700 a year, the study found — about 13 percent of average annual contributions.
Over many years, the amount of money lost can be significant – when you take into account years of missed matches and the lost investment income.
With a 6 percent return, couples could lose out on about $59,000 over 30 years.
The study looked at married couples who could boost their savings by taking advantage of the two employers’ more generous 401(K) matching plans.
In some couples, the researchers found, only one person contributed to a retirement plan, while the other ignored a plan with a generous employer match.
Others split their retirement savings equally – when they should have transferred more money to an account with a bigger match, it turned out.
Taha Choukhmane, assistant professor of finance at MIT Sloan School of Management, who co-authored the study, said USA today: ‘It’s not just about how much you save. It’s about how you save, and where you save.
‘It’s about how you distribute money among the accounts. The 401(K) is really designed around individuals. And I think a lot of people need to realize that this is not about the individual.”
Currently, Americans can contribute up to $22,500 to their 401(K) each year, and experts predict that amount will likely increase to $23,000 by 2024.
Some companies also offer automatic enrollment systems, allowing employees to start saving as standard.
And recent research has found that an increase in these plans means millennials are on track for a better retirement than their peers.
The study from wealth manager Vanguard analyzed what share of income Americans could continue to generate in retirement – based on their current savings and Social Security benefits
Asset manager Vanguard analyzed what share of income Americans of different generations could continue to generate in retirement – based on their current savings and Social Security benefits.
It found that “early millennials” – people between the ages of 37 and 41 – could cover 60 percent of their salaries, while baby boomers and Generation X would only have about half their salaries. For the purposes of the study, Boomers were categorized as people between 61 and 65 years old and Generation X as people between 49 and 53 years old.
Essentially, a millennial earning $50,000 is on track to have a retirement income worth $30,000 per year. By comparison, a Boomer with the same wage would be on track to earn $25,000.
But when it comes to retirement plans, separate research has exposed how plans vary across the country — and how some Americans don’t have access to a plan in the first place.
A survey from public policy organization the Economic Innovation Group (EIG) earlier this year found that as many as 56 percent of the U.S. workforce – or about 69 million people – do not have access to an employer-sponsored plan.
This puts them at risk of not having enough savings for later life.
The share is lowest in Florida, where only 33 percent of people have access to workplace plans, the study found.
The second worst is Georgia, where only 37 percent of people can enroll in a retirement plan, followed by Rhode Island, where only 39 percent have access.
A survey by public policy organization the Economic Innovation Group (EIG) shows that 56 percent of the U.S. workforce – or about 69 million people – do not have access to an employer-sponsored plan
Analyzing Census Data, the study found that Americans’ willingness to retire is also strongly determined by income, with higher-income households much more likely to save for retirement than lower-wage households.
Only 30 percent of the low-income workforce—those earning less than $37,000, according to EIG—has access to a 401(K) or other employer-provided retirement plan.
Florida, California and Connecticut are the worst-performing states, with fewer than a quarter of low-income workers having a plan.
This is especially impactful in California, where 3.6 million low-income workers lack access to an employer-provided retirement plan – the largest number in the country.