Signing on for free money

    I became eligible for the 401k at my job.

    The company contributes 3% of your salary whether or not you contribute anything to it.

    So, being the financial genius that I am (yes, you can and should snicker right now), I signed up right away. No, it's not tons of money, but I don't actually have to do anything to it.

    You know I keep reading that scads of American workers still don't sign up for their 401k plans, even when they're this kind, where you can be lazy and not responsible and they still give you money. Not signing up is like leaving some of your salary on the table.

    So, anyway, as I take my sweet time gathering together my goals and "resolutions" for the year, I just throw out that piece of advice for the newbies out there who may be scouring the Web looking for advice on getting their finances together.

   DH

Comments

[Single Ma]

Yay! Free money makes me happy. :-)

[NCN]

Did you get to pick the funds that you'll be investing in? Be sure that the money is actually going where you want it to go.. and not just to some money market fund...
NCN

[1stopmom]

I totally agree about contributing to your 401k. About 6 years ago when my husband changed jobs I made sure we start contributing right from the start. After being there 3 months his job starting matching what we put in at i think 3%. It was the best decision we ever made. Not to be a part of it would have been like throwing away money. Every year I raise the percentage we put in and we are not able to feel the difference.

[Dolly Iris]

I remember asking my supervisor at a company I used to work for if there were any company matches and he was like "um i think there is but nobody's ever asked before". There are approximately 1000 employees working there on average....sad.