401k Match Calculator

About this calculator

An employer 401(k) match is additional retirement money your employer contributes based on how much of your own salary you put into the plan, following a formula the company sets — a very common structure is “100 percent match on the first 3 percent of salary, then 50 percent on the next 2 percent”, which effectively caps the match once you reach a certain contribution rate.

Financial advisors near-universally recommend contributing at least enough to capture the full match, since it is often described as “free money” — leaving match on the table is one of the most common and costly retirement-savings mistakes, functionally equivalent to declining a portion of your own compensation. Because match formulas tier at different contribution percentages and sometimes cap in dollar terms, and because contribution room is itself capped by the IRS annual 401(k) limit, working out the exact match you’re entitled to at your current contribution rate isn’t always as simple as it sounds.

Enter your salary, your contribution rate and your employer’s match formula, and this calculator computes the employer match you earn and your total combined yearly contribution.