You need to know how to calculate your estimated retirement benefits based on your personal financial situation. To help you calculate retirement benefits, the following is an easy-to-use retirement calculator with a case study.

The following is a seven-step guide to help you determine if you are on target to meet your retirement goal, or how much you need to save annually to meet that goal. (more…)

Having determined the type or types of plans to be offered by the company, additional decisions regarding its features still must be made. The employees to be covered must be determined. Generally, employee eligibility is at the discretion of the employer, except that (under ERISA) employees must be eligible to participate one year after their first employment date (assuming they have reached the age of 25) and the plan must not discriminate in favor of executives, highly paid employees, or shareholders. (more…)

The maximum 401k contribution per year to a 401(k) plan in 1998 is not to exceed 25% of compensation. Although there is no legal minimum contribution requirement, in order to reduce the plan’s administrative costs, some plans establish a minimum amount that must be contributed.

There is also a limit on total 401 k contributions that employee and employer together can (more…)