There's Still Time to Make This Critical Retirement Savings Move for 2026

There are only a few months left in 2026, but you still have plenty of time to claim your 401(k) match for the year if you haven't already. Doing so could grow your retirement savings by thousands of dollars this year, and that money could become tens of thousands of dollars by retirement.

Even if you can't afford to claim the entire match, it's worth collecting some of it while you still can. Here's what you need to do.

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Start by understanding how your company's 401(k) match works

Each company sets its own 401(k) matching formula, so you'll have to check with your employer to figure out how yours works. Usually, you get $1 or $0.50 from your employer for every $1 you contribute to your retirement account, up to a certain percentage of your income.

Once you know how your matching formula works, you can figure out how much of your salary you must contribute to your 401(k) to claim the full match. For example, if you earn $60,000 per year and get a 100% match on up to 4% of your income, you'd contribute $2,400, and your employer would give you $2,400.

Figure out how much you need to set aside to claim your entire 401(k) match

Now that you know how much you need to save to get your entire match, subtract any money you've already contributed to your 401(k) throughout 2026. Check with your plan administrator or look in your online account if you're not sure how much you've already saved this year. The remainder is the amount you still have to set aside.

Divide this amount by the number of pay periods left in the year to figure out how much you must save in order to get the entire match. If saving that amount isn't feasible, claim as much as possible. It's all right to leave some of your match on the table if claiming it all would cause you financial hardship in the present. But you don't want to leave more on the table than you need to do.

After you've worked out a plan for claiming your 2026 match, figure out how you'll approach your 2027 401(k) match. If you start working on it right away in January, you'll need to set aside less per pay period to claim the full amount by the end of the year.

If you're expecting a raise in 2027, don't forget to factor this in when determining how much you need to set aside to claim the entire match. You will likely need to raise your 401(k) contributions so you don't accidentally leave some of your match unclaimed.

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