Report: Large Number of Employees Are Missing Out on ���Free Money���

If you���re an employee somewhere, chances are your company has some kind of retirement plan in place, and if there is, chances are also very good that it���s a 401(k).

And if you DO have a 401(k) available at work, it���s very possible that your employer offers matching contributions.

What are matching contributions?

Let���s start with this: they���re free money.

More specifically, their additional contributions made by the company to your 401(k) account, beyond those you make on your own, and up to a specified limit.

A typical matching arrangement might be one in which an employer agrees to contribute to your plan another 50 percent of the contributions you make, up to six percent of your salary. In that scenario, if you make $50,000 per year, and contribute a full six percent of your salary to your 401(k), that���s $3,000. If the employer is matching 50 percent of that, it means they���re throwing in another $1,500 on top of the $3,000 you���ve already contributed. Pretty nifty.

According to an article over at CNBC.com, 401(k) provider Betterment for Business recently conducted a survey that revealed ���89 percent of respondents were offered a 401(k) match by employers, but 23 percent didn't take full advantage of it. Of those 23 percent, 16 percent don't max out their match, and seven percent don't know if they do.���

What���s more, Betterment surveyed only those who are actually enrolled in a 401(k) plan. Folks that aren���t enrolled at all? Well, they���re definitely losing out entirely on the opportunity for free money.

Why do that?

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large