Join Early Retirement Today
Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Increase 401k contrib pct before last bonus payout?
Old 01-15-2018, 02:42 PM   #1
Full time employment: Posting here.
Carpediem's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2016
Posts: 770
Increase 401k contrib pct before last bonus payout?

Right now I am leaning toward a 6/1/18 retirement date, which is also my 59 1/2 birthday. With that date in mind, I am wondering if it makes sense to increase my 401k contribution percentage (e.g., to 50%) right before our annual bonuses are paid out in March in order to shield it as much as possible from the tax man. Or is this a dumb question and that's what all of you have been doing all these years?

Are there any other 'strategies or moves' I should consider in terms of my 401k as the retirement date nears?
Carpediem is offline   Reply With Quote
Join the #1 Early Retirement and Financial Independence Forum Today - It's Totally Free!

Are you planning to be financially independent as early as possible so you can live life on your own terms? Discuss successful investing strategies, asset allocation models, tax strategies and other related topics in our online forum community. Our members range from young folks just starting their journey to financial independence, military retirees and even multimillionaires. No matter where you fit in you'll find that Early-Retirement.org is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!

You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with our members, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create a retirement blog, send private messages and so much, much more!

Old 01-15-2018, 02:47 PM   #2
gone traveling
 
Join Date: Mar 2015
Posts: 3,508
Quote:
Originally Posted by Carpediem View Post
Right now I am leaning toward a 6/1/18 retirement date, which is also my 59 1/2 birthday. With that date in mind, I am wondering if it makes sense to increase my 401k contribution percentage (e.g., to 50%) right before our annual bonuses are paid out in March in order to shield it as much as possible from the tax man.
If you are permitted to do so, and if you are in a tax bracket where that is advantageous, then it makes complete sense. You should check to be sure that they will be taking 401k contributions out of your bonus payment.

My wife contributes more than half her salary to her 401k in order to max it out. It took a few rounds of convincing the payroll service that she really did want all that taken out, but it got done.

This defers a lot of money into the 401k, and also keeps our MAGI low enough to qualify for ACA subsidies.
joeea is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-15-2018, 02:51 PM   #3
Full time employment: Posting here.
Carpediem's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2016
Posts: 770
Quote:
Originally Posted by joeea View Post
You should check to be sure that they will be taking 401k contributions out of your bonus payment.
Yes, the bonus amount gets added to the regular bi-weekly paycheck and all deductions are withheld as normal, including 401k.
Carpediem is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-15-2018, 02:51 PM   #4
Administrator
MichaelB's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Chicagoland
Posts: 40,583
Only a half year salary. Might this be an opportunity to increase your after-tax savings? It really depends on what you expect for a marginal tax rate this year.
MichaelB is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 01-15-2018, 02:57 PM   #5
Full time employment: Posting here.
Carpediem's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2016
Posts: 770
Quote:
Originally Posted by MichaelB View Post
Only a half year salary. Might this be an opportunity to increase your after-tax savings? It really depends on what you expect for a marginal tax rate this year.
Glad you brought up the after-tax savings. Our investment structure is less than ideal IMO. Traditional IRAs make up roughly 95% of our overall investments. The rest of the breakdown is something like 3% cash and 2% ROTH IRA.

Should I consider only contributing up to the employer match to my 401k and start building up my cash reserve?

Our effective tax rate for 2016 was 8.73%.
Carpediem is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-15-2018, 03:11 PM   #6
Administrator
MichaelB's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Chicagoland
Posts: 40,583
Quote:
Originally Posted by Carpediem View Post
Glad you brought up the after-tax savings. Our investment structure is less than ideal IMO. Traditional IRAs make up roughly 95% of our overall investments. The rest of the breakdown is something like 3% cash and 2% ROTH IRA.

Should I consider only contributing up to the employer match to my 401k and start building up my cash reserve?

Our effective tax rate for 2016 was 8.73%.
Not enough ROTH type IRA and too much tIRA is one of the biggest complaints people express here at ER Forum. It really depends on what you expect your tax rate to be once you are drawing both SS and RMDs. There's nothing you can do then to lower your tax burden, but right now you have a chance to redirect some income into after tax saving, and also convert some of the tIRA to ROTH, especially if your current rate continues that low.
MichaelB is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 01-15-2018, 03:21 PM   #7
Full time employment: Posting here.
Carpediem's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2016
Posts: 770
Quote:
Originally Posted by MichaelB View Post
... especially if your current rate continues that low.
Alimony payments for the next 3.5 years so yeah, our tax rate will be 'favorable' for a few more years.
Carpediem is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-15-2018, 03:26 PM   #8
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
skipro33's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Placerville
Posts: 1,788
Something to consider is making an adjustment to your payroll federal income tax deductions. If you are only going to be earning for 6 months, but the tax rate is based on the full year, you should be able to reduce the withholding accordingly. Add on top of that, a substantial 401K contribution and your tax for this year will be a lot less than the rate your paycheck is projecting it would be.
My final year I worked, I went exempt for federal and state income taxes, maxxed out with 100% of my salary starting at the first of the year, and when I hit the limits, I reinstated the Fed and State taxes. At that time of the year, my taxes were based on how much I would earn for the rest of the tax year, appreciably less than what they were calculated for the full year. This is only doable if you have the cash on hand to cover your expenses while maxxing out the 401K limits. But even if you don't, you can borrow from your 401K, say $50,000, and then put your whole paycheck back into your 401K until it's maxxed out for the year and at the start of your retirement, anything not paid back on that loan is just considered your first draw.


****EDIT****
I also don't recommend leaving funds in the 401K after retirement. Some businesses consider this on their ledger in THEIR black column. Meaning; they consider it their money until it's distributed to you. If anything crashes, and the business declares bankruptcy, you might be standing in line with others who are still owed money. I think the law varies state by state on that though.
skipro33 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-15-2018, 03:33 PM   #9
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
travelover's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 14,328
Quote:
Originally Posted by Carpediem View Post
Alimony payments for the next 3.5 years so yeah, our tax rate will be 'favorable' for a few more years.
Didn't the new tax law take away alimony deductibility?
travelover is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-15-2018, 03:40 PM   #10
Full time employment: Posting here.
Carpediem's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2016
Posts: 770
Quote:
Originally Posted by travelover View Post
Didn't the new tax law take away alimony deductibility?
Only divorces that take place after 12/31/18.
Carpediem is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-15-2018, 03:42 PM   #11
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
REWahoo's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Texas: No Country for Old Men
Posts: 50,003
Quote:
Originally Posted by Carpediem View Post
Only divorces that take place after 12/31/18.
I wonder if divorce lawyers will start offering end-of-year specials....
__________________
Numbers is hard
REWahoo is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-15-2018, 03:45 PM   #12
Confused about dryer sheets
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 9
One issue with doing a big amount all at once like that is that the employer match is in terms of some percentage of each paycheck (I think 3 or 6%) and doing that way you could lose some part of that match.
mostlydone is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-15-2018, 03:52 PM   #13
Full time employment: Posting here.
Carpediem's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2016
Posts: 770
Quote:
Originally Posted by mostlydone View Post
One issue with doing a big amount all at once like that is that the employer match is in terms of some percentage of each paycheck (I think 3 or 6%) and doing that way you could lose some part of that match.
My employer's match is 6%. Are you saying some employers have rules about employee contribution percentages and how it might affect the company match? If so, I've not heard of it and would need to look into that.
Carpediem is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-15-2018, 03:54 PM   #14
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
REWahoo's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Texas: No Country for Old Men
Posts: 50,003
Quote:
Originally Posted by Carpediem View Post
My employer's match is 6%. Are you saying some employers have rules about employee contribution percentages and how it might affect the company match? If so, I've not heard of it and would need to look into that.
Definitely needs checking out. Many (most?) employers limit the match as mostlydone described.
__________________
Numbers is hard
REWahoo is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-15-2018, 04:01 PM   #15
Recycles dryer sheets
 
Join Date: Jan 2018
Posts: 103
Personally, I'd lean towards maxing the 401k contribution.

And as @joeea pointed out, I would double check to make sure your contribution wishes are carried out on a bonus check. The payroll services and software I have used require that 401k contributions are specifically enabled on a bonus check run.
Human is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-15-2018, 04:07 PM   #16
Full time employment: Posting here.
Carpediem's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2016
Posts: 770
As mentioned previously, our bonuses are not paid on a special / separate check or payroll run. The bonus is combined with a regular bi-weekly paycheck.
Carpediem is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-15-2018, 04:08 PM   #17
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
skipro33's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Placerville
Posts: 1,788
Quote:
Originally Posted by mostlydone View Post
One issue with doing a big amount all at once like that is that the employer match is in terms of some percentage of each paycheck (I think 3 or 6%) and doing that way you could lose some part of that match.
My employer started each year with a fixed amount of matching funds at dollar-for-dollar until it ran out. I could actually sell back unused vacation at the start of the new year, tag it for the 401K and double tap to my account. I could also borrow from my 401K for expenses, then put my whole paycheck into the 401K to get the full maximum contribution allowed and the match funds, and pay back the loan with paycheck deductions later that year. This was only possible with LBYM discipline, a lot of overtime pay and a paid-off mortgage.
Ya snooze, ya loose...
skipro33 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-15-2018, 05:01 PM   #18
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Senator's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: Williston, FL
Posts: 3,925
I always did 75%, for my last 12 years of work.
__________________
FIRE no later than 7/5/2016 at 56 (done), securing '16 401K match (done), getting '15 401K match (done), LTI Bonus (done), Perf bonus (done), maxing out 401K (done), picking up 1,000 hours to get another year of pension (done), July 1st benefits (vacation day, healthcare) (done), July 4th holiday. 0 days left. (done) OFFICIALLY RETIRED 7/5/2016!!
Senator is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-15-2018, 05:07 PM   #19
Confused about dryer sheets
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 9
Quote:
Originally Posted by Carpediem View Post
My employer's match is 6%. Are you saying some employers have rules about employee contribution percentages and how it might affect the company match? If so, I've not heard of it and would need to look into that.
I don't think they limit your contribution but if for example you were paid $10,000 per pay period, allocated 50% to the 401k, the employer match which caps at 6% would be $600 and my employer at least does not catch up on the match. So after 5 pay periods I would hit the 24,500 limit and only gotten $3000 in matching funds.
mostlydone is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
401k Rollover vs IRA contrib bizlady FIRE and Money 4 01-04-2018 09:45 AM
Foreign Stocks Pct in Portfolio nwsteve Active Investing, Market Strategies & Alternative Assets 18 11-12-2009 09:55 PM
2008-2010 zero pct adjusted net capital gain rate Ronstar FIRE and Money 9 07-09-2008 06:16 PM
Bonus, I don't need no stiinkin' bonus, except... redduck Other topics 8 12-28-2007 09:57 AM
2007 401k contrib limit dunc0029 Young Dreamers 19 10-27-2006 08:24 AM

» Quick Links

 
All times are GMT -6. The time now is 08:34 AM.
 
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.