{"version":"1.9","identifier":"7eb8a47c-871c-473d-9a15-4f52669c87ac","language":"en-US","title":"401(k) match: missing $1,000 of match a year adds up to about $57,100 over 30 years","layout":{"columns":7,"width":1024,"margin":32,"gutter":20},"componentLayouts":{"text":{"columnStart":0,"columnSpan":7,"maximumContentWidth":720,"margin":{"top":12,"bottom":12}},"photo":{"columnStart":0,"columnSpan":7,"margin":{"top":20,"bottom":20}}},"componentTextStyles":{"default":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":18,"lineHeight":29,"textColor":"#171717"},"headline":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue-Bold","fontSize":36,"lineHeight":42,"conditional":[{"conditions":{"maxViewportWidth":480},"fontSize":28,"lineHeight":34}]},"intro":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":20,"lineHeight":28,"textColor":"#555555"},"caption":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":13,"lineHeight":19,"textColor":"#666666"},"byline":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":13,"lineHeight":20,"textColor":"#666666"},"body":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":18,"lineHeight":29,"paragraphSpacingAfter":14,"linkStyle":{"textColor":"#00704a"}}},"metadata":{"canonicalURL":"https://www.pointsfrog.com/news/401k-match-calculator-missed-match-cost-by-retirement","datePublished":"2026-10-18T23:52:56.718894Z","dateModified":"2026-10-19T00:07:31.225377Z","authors":["Points Frog Editorial"],"excerpt":"Points Frog's 401(k) match calculator shows the match you get, what you leave on the table and the contribution that gets all of it, within the IRS's $24,500 limit for 2026.","thumbnailURL":"https://pub-fac99da959e344fe99d810d309cef7df.r2.dev/photos/article/7eb8a47c-871c-473d-9a15-4f52669c87ac/ac0ccab9d595508a47c50a78e279e34d.jpg","keywords":["other"],"generatorName":"Frog News","generatorVersion":"1.0"},"components":[{"role":"title","text":"401(k) match: missing $1,000 of match a year adds up to about $57,100 over 30 years","textStyle":"headline","layout":"text"},{"role":"intro","text":"Points Frog's 401(k) match calculator shows the match you get, what you leave on the table and the contribution that gets all of it, within the IRS's $24,500 limit for 2026.","textStyle":"intro","layout":"text"},{"role":"byline","text":"By Points Frog Editorial · Published October 18, 2026","textStyle":"byline","layout":"text"},{"role":"photo","URL":"https://pub-fac99da959e344fe99d810d309cef7df.r2.dev/photos/article/7eb8a47c-871c-473d-9a15-4f52669c87ac/ac0ccab9d595508a47c50a78e279e34d.jpg","caption":"Empty office cubicles in a former co-working space in Portland, Oregon. · Asa Wilson, CC BY-SA 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons)","accessibilityCaption":"Empty office cubicles in a former co-working space in Portland, Oregon.","layout":"photo"},{"role":"caption","text":"Empty office cubicles in a former co-working space in Portland, Oregon. · Asa Wilson, CC BY-SA 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons)","textStyle":"caption","layout":"text"},{"role":"body","format":"markdown","text":"Are you getting all of your employer's 401(k) match? Points Frog's [401(k) match calculator](https://www.pointsfrog.com/401k-match-calculator) takes your salary, what you put in and your plan's formula, even a tiered one. It shows the match you get, what you leave on the table and the contribution that gets all of it.\n\nSmall gaps add up. Missing $1,000 of match a year grows to about $57,100 over 30 years at a steady 4% return after inflation, in today's dollars. At the S\\&P 500's 6.8% average after inflation since 1957, it grows to about $93,900. None of that money would have come from your pay.\n\n[Try the calculator on Points Frog](https://www.pointsfrog.com/401k-match-calculator)\n\n## A worked example\n\nThe calculator opens on a $75,000 salary, a $25,000 balance, 30 years to retirement and a 3% contribution. The plan uses the basic safe harbor formula: 100% of the first 3% of pay, plus 50% of the next 2%.\n\nAt 3%, the employer adds $2,250 of the $3,000 it would pay. That leaves $750 a year on the table. Raising the contribution to 5% gets all of it. That costs $1,500 more a year from pay, about $125 a month before taxes, and brings $750 more from the employer.\n\nOver 30 years at 4%, the match this saver gets grows to $128,488. The full match would grow to $171,318. The difference, $42,829, is what the missing 2% of pay costs in match alone.\n\n## What a typical match looks like\n\nVanguard's How America Saves 2026 report covers its plans in 2025. The average match promised 4.7% of pay, and the median 4%. Getting all of it meant contributing 6.4% of pay on average, or 6% at the median.\n\nThe most common formula was 50% of the first 6% of pay, used by 12% of plans with a match. Next came the basic safe harbor formula and 100% of the first 6%, at 9% of plans each. The five most common formulas still cover fewer than half of plans: Vanguard counted more than 100 distinct match formulas.","textStyle":"body","layout":"text"},{"role":"htmltable","html":"
Contribution on $60,00050% of the first 6%100% of the first 6%
3% ($1,800)$900$1,800
6% ($3,600)$1,800$3,600
8% ($4,800)$1,800$3,600
","layout":"text"},{"role":"body","format":"markdown","text":"## What moves the answer most\n\nYour contribution rate, set against the point where the formula stops, matters most. With the most common formula, putting in 6% of a $60,000 salary brings $1,800 from the employer. Put in 3% and the match is $900. Anything above 6% isn't matched.\n\nTiming can matter for higher earners. Reaching the IRS limit early can cost match. Put 10% of a $300,000 salary into a plan that matches 100% of the first 6%, and you hit $24,500 with your October paycheck. A plan that matches each paycheck stops there, at $15,000 instead of $18,000. Some plans true up after the year ends and pay the rest. If yours doesn't, 8.1% of each paycheck spreads the limit over all twelve months. That is why the calculator works paycheck by paycheck.\n\n## The 2026 limits\n\nYou can put in up to $24,500 from your pay in 2026, up from $23,500 in 2025. From the year you turn 50 you can add $8,000 in catch-up contributions, or $11,250 instead in the years you turn 60 to 63. The match doesn't count toward those limits. It counts toward a $72,000 cap on everything you and your employer add, not counting catch-up.\n\nTwo more rules affect higher earners. A plan can count only the first $360,000 of pay for the match. And if you earned more than $150,000 in Social Security (FICA) wages from your employer in 2025, any 2026 catch-up must go in as Roth.\n\n## What the calculator leaves out\n\nThe page calls itself an educational estimate, not financial advice. It leaves out taxes, fees, raises, vesting, waiting periods before the match starts and profit-sharing contributions. Markets can also return less than you expect.\n\nVesting can matter. Your own contributions are always yours, but under the slowest schedules the IRS allows, you may own none of the match until 3 years of service. A graded schedule can instead give you 20% after 2 years, rising to 100% at 6. In 2025, nearly half of Vanguard plans vested the match right away, while 22% used a 5- or 6-year graded schedule.\n\n## Where the figures come from\n\nThe limits come from IRS Notice 2025-67 and the IRS announcement of November 13, 2025. Match data comes from Vanguard's How America Saves 2026, published in June 2026. Vesting rules come from the IRS's guidance on vesting schedules. Growth uses the retirement calculator's two cases: a steady 4%, and the S\\&P 500's 6.8% after inflation from Robert Shiller's data. Projections assume pay and the IRS limits rise with prices. The page's figures were checked in October 2026.\n\n## Use it on your own site\n\nThe 401(k) match calculator is free to embed on a blog or site with copy-and-paste code, with no ads or tracking. See [how to embed it](https://www.pointsfrog.com/calculators/embed).\n\nSource: [IRS Notice 2025-67](https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-25-67.pdf), November 13, 2025; [Vanguard, How America Saves 2026](https://workplace.vanguard.com/insights-and-research/report/how-america-saves-2026.html), June 2026; [IRS, Vesting schedules for matching contributions](https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/issue-snapshot-vesting-schedules-for-matching-contributions), updated June 28, 2026. Checked October 2026. Figures are educational estimates, not financial advice.\n\n## Related reading\n\n* [Retirement calculator: are you saving enough?](https://www.pointsfrog.com/retirement-calculator)\n* [FIRE calculator: when can I retire early?](https://www.pointsfrog.com/fire-calculator)\n* [Compound interest calculator](https://www.pointsfrog.com/compound-interest-calculator)","textStyle":"body","layout":"text"}]}