Anonymous wrote:I once asked this question of the hr specialist at my office (Feds) and she did t know the answer

IME the fed HR people are the least useful people in the world

The term 401(k) simply denotes that particular section of the IRS Tax Code when it was enacted in 1978.

Anonymous wrote:What about when you have 2 jobs--both as an employee? Am I capped at 17.5K plus employer contribution or can I contribute 17.5K from EACH employer?

No. Employee contribution is capped at $17.5K. You can try to maximize matches though - i.e. if both employers offer a 5% match, rather than put 17.5K into one you might be better off splitting the difference and getting both matches, but your employee contribution across both is capped.

Does anyone know if you can trade options in a 401k brokerage account?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not stupid at all.

Stupid would be asking "What does the 'k' stand for"? Cause, duh, everyone knows that.

Are you sure? I put tons of money into my 401K, but no longer remember what the K stands for!

Try writing it 401(k) and see if that helps

What about when you have 2 jobs--both as an employee? Am I capped at 17.5K plus employer contribution or can I contribute 17.5K from EACH employer?

I once asked this question of the hr specialist at my office (Feds) and she did t know the answer

The employer and employee combined max is something like 48K (havent checked in a while). If you have any self employed income, you can use that to "top off" whatever your employer does not.

For instance, in my case, I contribute $17K a year and my employer matches about $15K on top of that. I then contribute from my other employer (myself) the balance of $16K, thereby reducing my taxable income substantially while also effectively squirrelin' away $50K a year. You can do it with both spouses too if you have enough self-employment income.

Anonymous wrote:Not stupid at all.

Stupid would be asking "What does the 'k' stand for"? Cause, duh, everyone knows that.

Are you sure? I put tons of money into my 401K, but no longer remember what the K stands for!

Not stupid at all.

Stupid would be asking "What does the 'k' stand for"? Cause, duh, everyone knows that.

There is no such a thing as a stupid question (even if some DCUMers think otherwise). I just wanted to add that if you want to max your account, the max this year is 17.5k not 17k (every little bit counts )

Thanks!

Not a stupid question, I didn't realize that's how it worked either.

No, the employer contribution doesn't impact the total amount. You can contribute yourself up to the ceiling.

Does the employer contribution impact the total amount one can contribute to the 401k? For instance, if your salary is $100,000 and you defer 10% or 10k and your employer matches up to 5% (or 5k) - can you then contribute another 7k to get to $17k or only 2k (because of the 5k coming from your employer)?

Thanks.