401K question - any way to get it to 52k?

[ERDude]

My 2014 401k contributions are as follows

17,500 - personal contribution
10,400 - employer match
9,863 - employer profit sharing bonus

Total = $37,763. Well short of the maximum allowable 52K.

Is there any way I can get this up to 52K (eg. can I make a personal match to the profit sharing bonus?) or am I at the whim of the amount of my employers match and profit sharing bonus?

Thanks.

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[sazerac]

No. You can contribute to a traditional or Roth 2014 IRA to get some additional retirement savings, but you can't add more to your 2014 401k.

If you've contributed the maximum amount your employer allows, and also collected the maximum employer contributions available to you, then there is nothing more to do in the 401k department in a given year.

 

[Plastikos]

You need to get some kind of, at the very least in name self employed position. Moonlighting somewhere not your employed hospital? If you get a 1099 youre good to go. It can even be totally unrelated. I'd look into it and see what you can do, you dont want to miss out on that government margin loan.

There is a lot that sucks about being self employed, but the ability to put 53K+ away per year more than makes up for it.

 

[James Martin]

No. You can contribute to a traditional or Roth 2014 IRA to get some additional retirement savings, but you can't add more to your 2014 401k.

If you've contributed the maximum amount your employer allows, and also collected the maximum employer contributions available to you, then there is nothing more to do in the 401k department in a given year.

I agree with him. You can contribute to a traditional or Roth IRA 2014 to get some extra retirement savings, but you can't add more to your 2014 401k.

 

[thesauce]

Depending on how the 401k was written when it was setup, they may allow bonuses, etc to be put into the employer side of your 401k. Might as well ask.

 

[The White Coat Investor]

Doesn't hurt to ask HR. The answer is probably no, but they might allow you to "self-match" up to the $53K limit. Mine allowed it when I was an employee of the group.

 

[ERDude]

Thanks for the replies guys. I did check with our HR and accountant to see if I can do any kind of self-match or get other bonus contributions so we'll see.

Regarding traditional and Roth IRA - I believe because of my income I am not eligible for a deduction on a traditional IRA contribution and I'm also not eligible for a Roth (also I can't do a backdoor Roth because of existing IRA money that at least at present can't be moved/rolled over).

So barring a way to get my employer to get more funds into my 401k, is my next/only option for investment (in the market) just a regular taxable investment account?

 

[thesauce]

Doesn't hurt to ask HR. The answer is probably no, but they might allow you to "self-match" up to the $53K limit. Mine allowed it when I was an employee of the group.

How exactly did the self-match work? Did employer contribute anything?

 

[sazerac]

Thanks for the replies guys. I did check with our HR and accountant to see if I can do any kind of self-match or get other bonus contributions so we'll see.

Regarding traditional and Roth IRA - I believe because of my income I am not eligible for a deduction on a traditional IRA contribution and I'm also not eligible for a Roth (also I can't do a backdoor Roth because of existing IRA money that at least at present can't be moved/rolled over).

So barring a way to get my employer to get more funds into my 401k, is my next/only option for investment (in the market) just a regular taxable investment account?

You could still contribute to a nondeductible traditional IRA. It still grows tax free.

You could even convert that nondeductible IRA to a Roth, if you wanted to. Yes you would have to pay some taxes on the conversion, but if you think your tax rate now will be less than tax rate later, then a conversion would make sense.

 

[The White Coat Investor]

You could still contribute to a nondeductible traditional IRA. It still grows tax free.

You could even convert that nondeductible IRA to a Roth, if you wanted to. Yes you would have to pay some taxes on the conversion, but if you think your tax rate now will be less than tax rate later, then a conversion would make sense.

Amen- the backdoor Roth is a great place for your next $5500-$11K in savings.

 

[The White Coat Investor]

How exactly did the self-match work? Did employer contribute anything?

Nope, all my money.

 

[anbuitachi]

You need to get some kind of, at the very least in name self employed position. Moonlighting somewhere not your employed hospital? If you get a 1099 youre good to go. It can even be totally unrelated. I'd look into it and see what you can do, you dont want to miss out on that government margin loan.

There is a lot that sucks about being self employed, but the ability to put 53K+ away per year more than makes up for it.

what if you get a 1099 side job for a month? does that work to increase it?

 

[thesauce]

what if you get a 1099 side job for a month? does that work to increase it?

In that case, you could look into opening a personal (self-employed) 401k and you can contribute the first $18k or so. The max amounts across the accounts still apply though.

 

[Stroganoff]

FYI: 2015 limit is $53,000, raised from $52,000.