[USER]

Maximize 401k contribution when paystub doesn’t align with calendar year. My company requires employee contribution for every paycheck to match so I cannot pay it all upfront in the beginning of the year and then stop.

For 2024, I did adjust my contribution towards end of the year to maximize IRS limit but my paycheck was issued in first week of Jan 2025. So as per the last paycheck in Dec 2024, I contributed about 20k so I fell short of 3000 to meet IRS limit.

How to avoid this going forward?

Apologize but new to these as I have mostly worked as contractor in the past which didn’t include these benefits.

[Daniel]

What do you mean “require employee contributions for every paycheck to match”?

But then they allow you to adjust it so that it doesn’t match earlier contributions?

[Heath]

The simplest way, if you have a good working relationship with HR, is to see if they’ll consider amending their plan to include a match “catch up” provision where, if you hit the limit early in the year, they’ll pay a catchup match later.

[Jule]

Keep an eye on your contributions and how they align with the dates of your paycheck.

By October take a closer look and make adjustments if necessary.

[Jamie]

Is there a reason you can’t take the annual limit and divide by your number of paychecks?

Why does it need to be more later in the year instead of evenly spread?

[Author]

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