It is one of the basic laws of personal finance: Fund traditional 401(k) accounts with enough money to get a full employer match - if one is offered.
"A match trumps all, given that it's effectively an instantaneous 100% or 50% return on the contribution, depending on the match ratio," says Michael Kitces, partner and director of research at Pinnacle Advisory Group in Columbia, Md. If a client with a $200,000 salary is offered a 50% match on the first 6% of pay, for example, the client should contribute at least $12,000 to the 401(k) to get the $6,000 employer contribution.
But during the recession, many employers pulled back on 401(k) matches. Out of their own paychecks, clients who work at those companies can still contribute up to $17,500 this year to a 401(k) or up to $23,000 if they're 50 or older.
Yet many clients wonder: Match or no, should that employee with the $200,000 salary max out their 401(k) this year?
ARGUING FOR THE MAX
For Kitces, there is a strong case in favor of unmatched contributions. Tax-efficient investment opportunities outside of a 401(k), like tax-managed mutual funds or ETFs, are efficient about deferring tax only on the growth - but "a 401(k) contribution defers taxes on the principal," Kitces says. "That's a gargantuan difference.
"With a $10,000 investment and an 8% growth rate," he continues, "tax-advantaged mutual funds are tax-efficient on $800 of growth, while 401(k)s are tax-deferred on the whole $10,000. It's not even slightly close. The 401(k) contribution will absolutely obliterate the economic value of tax-efficient brokerage investments."
Connie Stone, president of Stepping Stone Financial in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, contends that there are other reasons unmatched 401(k) contributions can work for some clients. "Besides lowering the tax bill," she says, "tax deferral also lowers a client's adjusted gross income. With lower AGI, the amount of AGI-dependent tax deductions and credits can increase and the taxation of Social Security benefits may decrease."
But other advisors see drawbacks to making unmatched contributions to a 401(k). "Generally, 401(k) plans have limited investment options, so returns may suffer," says Norman Boone, president of Mosaic Financial Partners, an advisory firm in San Francisco.
What's more, if a client needs cash, getting money into a 401(k) is easier than pulling it out. Loans can pose tax problems, such as double taxation of interest payments and unwanted taxes on loan defaults. Hardship withdrawals may not be available. Even expected withdrawals in retirement can be painful if future tax rates rise.
TOP PRIORITIES
Are there better alternatives to unmatched 401(k) contributions? Boone suggests following this list of priorities:
1. 401(k) contributions that receive a full match.
2. Repayment of credit-card debt.
3.Roth IRA contributions, up to the annual limit.
4. Unmatched 401(k) contributions.
Boone is not alone in valuing Roth IRA contributions above unmatched 401(k) contributions. "Client situations differ," says Joe Lucey, president of Secured Retirement Advisors, an RIA in St. Louis Park, Minn., "but using a Roth IRA before unmatched 401(k) contributions is a common strategy at our firm. We put tax-free money before tax-deferred money." Roth IRA withdrawals are fully tax-free after five years and after age 59 1/2.
Many of Lucey's working clients allocate 10% or 15% of their income to retirement funding. "Say a client earning $100,000 is in a 401(k) that matches up to 6% of pay," he says. "If the retirement savings goal is 10%, that client might put $6,000 into the 401(k) to get the match, and contribute the remaining $4,000 to a Roth IRA, assuming income eligibility."
One major exception is a high-bracket client who expects to have a lower tax rate in retirement: Such a client should make unmatched 401(k) contributions instead to get the more valuable tax break. But "if a client expects to be in the same tax bracket," Lucey says, "I'd probably recommend the Roth IRA."
He also cites another consideration. "I prefer diversification among retirement funds," he says. "A client with money in both a Roth IRA and a traditional tax-deferred plan may have more flexibility in choosing the account to tap in retirement."
Kitces notes other advantages to a Roth IRA. Unlike Roth 401(k)s, Roth IRAs have no required minimum distributions during the life of the account owner. "This advantage applies only while the IRA owner is alive, and only if the IRA owner lives past age 70 1/2, when RMDs begin," he explains. Some clients may value the opportunity to pass a substantial tax-free account to beneficiaries.
Moreover, holding a traditional retirement account at death may mean paying estate tax on money that really belongs to the IRS. That's not an issue for federal estate tax, for various reasons, including the large estate tax exemption now in effect. However, many clients will owe state estate tax, with lower exemptions and no offsetting tax benefits.
HEALTHY CHOICE
Beyond Roth IRAs and taxable investments, there may be other vehicles that are preferable to unmatched 401(k) contributions. Parents of young children could contribute to a 529 account, for eventual tax-free distributions to pay tuition bills, Lucey notes. He adds that contributions to health savings accounts might be a superior choice for people focused on retirement.
Indeed, William Applegate, a Fidelity Investments vice president, suggests that employees consider HSAs as a component of their retirement investing. After a contribution to get a 401(k) match, he argues, "the next dollars should go into an HSA, where employees can get triple tax advantages" - because HSA contributions, investment returns and any distributions used for qualified health care expenses are all exempt from income tax. And because there's no use-it-or-lose-it feature, he says, HSA accounts can grow until they're tapped, tax-free, for future medical bills.
This year, HSA contributions can be as high as $7,450 for families with account holders 55 or older; part of an annual HSA contribution might come from an employer's match, if one is offered. "After contributing as much as possible to an HSA, employees can make unmatched 401(k) contributions," Applegate adds.
Considering the tax advantages, some clients may choose to pay medical bills out of pocket and use an HSA for tax-free accumulation to pay future bills. Stone says that such efforts would involve long-term investment options with substantial upside potential, rather than the ultralow-yield bank accounts currently chosen for most HSAs .
Still, as Ross Levin, president of Accredited Investors in Edina, Minn., says, "You have to make sure that a high-deductible health insurance policy is in place" before a possible HSA contribution even enters the equation because clients must have conforming health insurance to open an HSA.
"Some clients may not be able to fund an HSA for retirement and also fund a Roth IRA," Levin adds, "because they will use their HSAs for medical expenses along the way."
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Donald Jay Korn is a Financial Planning contributing writer in New York. He also writes regularly for On Wall Street.
