Red pill me on the 401k my company matches 10% so about to sign up, anything I should know in advance before?

Red pill me on the 401k my company matches 10% so about to sign up, anything I should know in advance before?

Free money, dumbass. What's to know?

Protip: stop frog posting, and stop using terms like "red pill." If you're old enough to have a 401k you're old enough to stop being a little internet faggot.

>red pill me on free money

dont accept it. its not actually free money. its a false flag

i only contribute the bare minimum. i dont trust 401 since i might be dead before i can cash out.. rather just invest my money and cash out at any time.. I like the liquidity

Here's how it works: You defer some amount of money from your paycheck into a special fund. This can be any amount but not more than $18k a year. Once you put it in this fund you are basically promising the IRS that you won't touch it till you are 59 and a half at least. It's still your money, so you can get it back any time you want before that but you'll pay a huge penalty so don't. If you don't touch it till you are the right age though you get massive tax benefits which cannot be understated.

Your company is saying that they will match the money you put in this fund up to 10% of your salary. So if you make $100 and defer 10% that means you put $10 in the fund and they put $10 in the fund. Free money and you should absolutely take it if you aren't retarded.

401k? more like 401GAY

i am 40. i have worked 11 years. i have contributed max each year to the 401k and had 3% match. i also paid off 120k in school loans in that time. i am not a sophisticated investor.

my 401k is :

$108,000 in cash
$180,000 in FFKFX

i just moved to a new job this year
they do not match and i will contribute max each year

I would like to move that 108k cash in my 401k to a fund, however, the market appears to be near a top with the DOW at +18.3k.

i also have 120k equity in a home and own 25% of a 1.5 million dollar commercial property that provides rental income, but however still owes 25 years of mortgage

i also have 110k in cash in a savings account and will buy some properties hopefully to rent out.

i also need to separately start buying index funds and/or dividend stocks. however with the DOW at 18k

so in short. dont be like me. i may be fucked. pay attention to the time value of your money. just put every month as much as you can into tried and true funds or index funds and max your 401k. and over 40 years when you retire you will be fine

Why did you leave so much in cash dude? Through 7 years of amazing returns.

What till 59? That's fucking gay my man. I'm 22 now I rather take that 10% and invest it myself or how big is the penalty for withdrawing early?

You can cash out on a 401k at any time.

ya its sad but in 2010 in the wake of 2008 i was more concerned about losing than gaining

It's a scam

don't do it.

>I'm old so everyone else should be old with me
This isn't bogleheads senpai

afaik you can only cash out in special circumstances.. they make it hard to cash out before retirement

Here, this might help you.

When I got my first full time job, I set up 18% of each paycheck to go into the 401k. The next year, I set up exactly the legal limit. My employer contributed about 1/5 of the value of my current 401k balance, and I can trade any of the crappy index funds that they offer.

I can also take that same money and roll it into an IRA to invest in anything that I want to invest in.

Both offer tax advantages over just taking my paycheck and investing it.

t. idiot

choose the cheapest broad market index they offer and put 100% in there. 401ks are filled with high fee products like le 2050 retirement goyim fund with 4% fees

The penalty is 10% and then you have to pay full taxes on top of the withdrawal. If you cannot wait until you are the correct age to withdraw then using the 401k at all is not recommended, but you will need a lot of money when you are old and it is best to start saving that when you are as young as possible.

wow people are still falling for this meme? don't do it bro, it's a complete waste of money.

think about it, do businesses offer services that lose them money? no. they only offer services that make them money. 401k is just another way they're getting over on you.

I cashed mine out because it was actually doing _worse_ than my own investing.

I don't plan on living past 30-35 so no point in putting money into it

shit is a government ponzi scheme

This. It's a trick don't do it

You can take 50% or 50k (higher of the 2) as a loan at any time in most plans. If you quit/change jobs, you have to repay or face 10% penalty plus taxes.

>I cashed mine out because it was actually doing _worse_ than my own investing.

yeah this is my main problem with them.. slow yields compared to my own investments.. Someones gonna have to take a hefty commission on your 401k down the line

only scrubs like really believe in it

you're too stupid and retard to deserve 10% matching so I hope you fuck it up somehow and lose all your money because of bad choices and investments

Employer matching is free money, nigga.

Yeah but till 60? Going long for days my compadre, any way to get around early gains for not tax