Not maxing out 401k, even though high income

[Anonymous]

DH is high income (over 500k) but not financially savvy. He said and I believe he thought he was maxing his 401k, but was only putting in 5000 for most of the last 20 years. I’m so disappointed. There’s no recourse for this, right? He wasn’t sharing his 401k balance with me, and I was surprised to hear how low it was.

[Anonymous]

You can’t go back in time, but he should make sure that for this year and going forward he is at least contributing enough to get the employer match

[Anonymous]

He's allowed to over contribute to "catch up"

[Anonymous]

He should be putting in the IRS max, not limiting it to what his employer matches.

This is partially on you, OP. You need to understand and have access to all marital finances

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:He should be putting in the IRS max, not limiting it to what his employer matches.

This is partially on you, OP. You need to understand and have access to all marital finances

I asked and he said yes, he was maxing. I can’t fill in his forms at work. I regret not forcing the issue, but it is very difficult in a relationship where there has been financial abuse.

[Anonymous]

No, no recourse. Do you not look at his w2? Paystubs when you make a big purchase? This is idiotic and a free tax break but nothing you can do now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:He's allowed to over contribute to "catch up"

Not unless he’s old.

[Anonymous]

Are you looking to divorce and are disappointed by the lack of retirement assets? Can you explain what “recourse” you would be looking for?

Even then, my ex-DH would often raid his 401k without telling me to pay off credit cards that I had no visibility on, costing us $$ in taxes and reducing the asset when we eventually divorced. I ended up having to give him a larger share of the home equity to protect my 401k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you looking to divorce and are disappointed by the lack of retirement assets? Can you explain what “recourse” you would be looking for?

Even then, my ex-DH would often raid his 401k without telling me to pay off credit cards that I had no visibility on, costing us $$ in taxes and reducing the asset when we eventually divorced. I ended up having to give him a larger share of the home equity to protect my 401k.

Yes, I now know I was lied to about this and other things and now will get much less than expected. Sorry for your situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:He's allowed to over contribute to "catch up"

What are you even talking about?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He's allowed to over contribute to "catch up"

What are you even talking about?

https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/plan-participant-employee/retirement-topics-catch-up-contributions

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He's allowed to over contribute to "catch up"

What are you even talking about?

https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/plan-participant-employee/retirement-topics-catch-up-contributions

These are just higher contribution limits for people 50 and over. Clearly you should start contributing the max now. But it won’t make up for the last 20 years of under contributing, not to mention the foregone compound returns.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DH is high income (over 500k) but not financially savvy. He said and I believe he thought he was maxing his 401k, but was only putting in 5000 for most of the last 20 years. I’m so disappointed. There’s no recourse for this, right? He wasn’t sharing his 401k balance with me, and I was surprised to hear how low it was.

The good news is that you are rich enough that this isn’t a huge problem.

But if it were me and I discovered this, I would start doing the taxes and handling the household investments. Clearly your husband is an idiot, albeit a highly remunerated one. What does he do?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DH is high income (over 500k) but not financially savvy. He said and I believe he thought he was maxing his 401k, but was only putting in 5000 for most of the last 20 years. I’m so disappointed. There’s no recourse for this, right? He wasn’t sharing his 401k balance with me, and I was surprised to hear how low it was.

Maybe he was quite savvy, and decided to enjoy his income rather than save it to be taken away in divorce.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DH is high income (over 500k) but not financially savvy. He said and I believe he thought he was maxing his 401k, but was only putting in 5000 for most of the last 20 years. I’m so disappointed. There’s no recourse for this, right? He wasn’t sharing his 401k balance with me, and I was surprised to hear how low it was.

Maybe he was quite savvy, and decided to enjoy his income rather than save it to be taken away in divorce.

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