Employers are limited in paying into 401ks for highly compensated employees, and are required to have a certain percentage of their normal employees putting money in if they want to go hog for their execs. That’s why many give matches, to incentivize folks to contribute so that they can then funnel more to the C-suite.
Your coworker is right that the lack of match makes the 401k less appealing. That said, it’s still the stock market, but you may have severely limited options.
You’ll want to do what you’re required to do, but then you should look into a ROTH IRA, which will give you a lot more control over that extra 5%.
Employers are limited in paying into 401ks for highly compensated employees, and are required to have a certain percentage of their normal employees putting money in if they want to go hog for their execs. That’s why many give matches, to incentivize folks to contribute so that they can then funnel more to the C-suite.
Your coworker is right that the lack of match makes the 401k less appealing. That said, it’s still the stock market, but you may have severely limited options.
You’ll want to do what you’re required to do, but then you should look into a ROTH IRA, which will give you a lot more control over that extra 5%.