Key Points
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Most 401(k) matches are somewhere between 3% and 6% of your annual income.
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You can only claim your 401(k) match by deferring a portion of your paychecks.
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There’s still time left to claim at least some of your 2025 401(k) match.
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You could do it alone, but you’ll find it a lot easier if you qualify for a 401(k) match through your employer. We’ve still got a few months left in 2025, so if you haven’t claimed yours yet, you’ll need a plan to do so.
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How much is your 401(k) match really worth?
Every company sets its own 401(k) matching formula. Some offer dollar-for-dollar matches while others offer a $0.50-on-the-dollar match or a tiered system where, for example, you earn a 100% match on up to 3% of your income and then a 50% match on an additional 2% of your income. It’s common for matches to be somewhere between 3% and 6% of your annual income.
If you earn $60,000 per year and you get a 100% match on up to 4% of your income, then you’d set aside $2,400 and your employer would then give you $2,400 as a match for a total of $4,800. It looks as if you’ve doubled your money, but you’ve actually done even better.
You don’t just get another $2,400 from your employer. You get years or even decades of investment earnings on those funds. That $2,400 match could be worth more than $16,000 in 20 years, if you earn a 10% average annual rate of return. That’s what you give up when you forgo your 401(k) match.
How to claim your 2025 401(k) match before year-end
Your 2025 401(k) match is a limited-time offer. If you don’t claim it by the end of the year, you miss out on the opportunity, though you can still try for your 401(k) match in 2026. That said, there are still a few months left in this year and you may still be able to use it to lock in at least some of your 401(k) match.
The first step is to figure out how your employer’s 401(k) matching formula works so you know how much you need to set aside in order to get the full match. You can figure this out by talking to your HR department. Your 401(k) plan administrator may have this information as well.
Next, look up how much you’ve contributed to your 401(k) during the year. If you’ve already set aside enough to claim the full match, there’s no harm in saving more. Or you could switch to an IRA if you prefer.
If you haven’t claimed the full match, subtract the total amount you must save — in our example above for someone getting a matching contribution totaling 4% on $60,000, that’s $2,400 — by the amount you’ve already contributed to see what’s left over. That’s how much you’d ideally be able to set aside before the end of the year.
You can only fund your 401(k) with paycheck deferrals, so you’ll need to divide the total amount you have left to save by the pay periods remaining in the year. This will give you the amount you must set aside per paycheck.
You may have to set up or increase your paycheck deferrals. You might be able to do this through an online account with your 401(k) administrator. When that’s not an option, talk to your employer.
If you aren’t able to claim your full match for 2025, that’s OK. Getting some of it is better than none at all. Do what you can and then start planning for 2026. If you start making 401(k) deferrals early in the year, you should have an easier time claiming the whole thing.
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