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Boost Your Balance
Contributions are a driving force in your retirement savings. These materials discuss easy ways to increase your 401(k) contribution.
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Increasing your retirement contributions – even by a small amount – can make a big difference.
Three Easy Ways to Boost Your Balance
- Split your raise/bonus with your retirement fund. If you get a 3% raise, increase your 401(k) contribution by 1%. You’ll increase your take home pay and your retirement savings.
- Learn from last year’s tax return. If you got a tax refund, make a change so you’re paying less in taxes and put that money to work in your retirement account.
- Maximize your company match. Make sure you’re contributing enough to get all of the match. It’s free money.
Small Change, Big Difference
Let’s say you earn $40,000 annually with a bi-weekly salary of $1,538.50 before taxes and you contribute 3% of your salary to your 401(k). After 30 years, your total savings would be more than $97,000.*
But check out what happens if you increase your contribution to 6% – your total savings would be nearly $200,000!*
As you can see from the following chart, even a small change can make a big difference in the long run.
*Assumed 6% growth rate. Contributions and returns rounded to the nearest dollar. The above illustration is hypothetical and for educational purposes only. Your actual results will vary
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