４０１K 问答 － 给楼下要当妈了

1。公司关于401K的规定是“can take loans from your account and make in-service withdrawals upon indurring a financial hardship"是不是说我能从自己的退休帐户里提前借钱出来用来买房什么的？ 是不是经济困难时可以提请取不用交10%罚款？
You can take loan from your account for up to 50% of your account balance, or $50K, whichever is less. The interest rate will be comparable to market rate, and you need to repay the loan and interest to your own 401k account through payroll deduction, usually within 5-10 years. In case you are no longer with the company, your loan balance is due immediately, otherwise, the balance will be deemed as early withdrawal, which you have to pay income tax plus 10% penalty. Hardship withdrawal can be requested for up to the entire account balance, but you also need to pay income tax plus 10% penalty. The 10% penalty is waived only if you withdrawal after 59.5 of age, or upon death.

2。“account balance payable at retirement or termination of employment" 我不在这公司干了就能拿到balance了？还是说到时可以让我转到自己的IRA账户里？
Once you are terminated, you can rollover the 401k balance into a traditional IRA or your next job's 401k account, which has no tax consequence. If you simply withdraw, you still have to pay income tax plus 10% penalty.

3。“employees are eligible to make 401K tax-deferred and/or after tax Roth contributions" 好像都说Roth好，我是不是不用投401了？
Roth 401k is good if you anticipate your tax rate after age 59.5 will be higher than now. If you contribute to traditional 401k, your contribution portion of income is tax deferred until you withdraw. If you contribute to Roth 401k, you don't get any tax deferral benefit now, but the money grow tax-free, and there are less withdrawal restriction in Roth account. Also Roth 401K is better than Roth IRA, as Roth IRA has $5,000 limit per year, while Roth 401K is up to $16,500 per year.

4。“New employees will automatically be enrolled at a deferral rate of 3%. Employees may opt out or make deferral percentage changes at any time". 是说会自动扣我的工资的3%去投401K吗？工资不高，每年税后到手的钱再刨去日用花销后能剩税前工资的10%左右。我该怎么调整这个百分比？
Yes, unless you decline in the enrollment form, your 3% salary will be put into 401K. It will be your personal decision how much to save. Most likely, you can change your contribution % any time online or by phone.

5。公司只给工作两年以上的人contribute。 我看大家都说401K缩水了，象我这种没有match的人是不是不值得投钱进去？如果投的话，我是很怕风险的人，回报不高没关系，要是钱会变少我宁可存银行。投401K或Roth也能有办法保证不缩水吗？
I would suggest that everyone contribute at least the % that will get all company match. When there is no match, it is your personal choice again. One thing you need to really do some homework is how well is the 401K plan administered. If you are working for a small company where the plan is administered by the office manager or owner, and the trustee is not a well known financial institution, don't trust them. Throughout my audit career of employee benefit plans, I have seen lots of compliance problems with casually administered plans. you also need to study the investment options. If you are a conservative invester, just put all your contribution into fixed income funds or government bond funds, or even money market funds, it will be just as safe as CD. Investment risk is the same no matter where you invest, but you can minimize the risk by how you invest.