Job ToolsetThe $1,800 Raise Marcus Turned Down by Accident
Meet Marcus. He's 30, earns $60,000, and contributes 3% of his paycheck to his 401(k) because that's the number that was pre-filled when he onboarded. He thinks he's being responsible. He is, partly. But his employer offers a match most people never read closely: 100% of the first 3%, then 50% of the next 2%.
Here's what that means in dollars. By putting in 3%, Marcus contributes $1,800 a year and his employer adds $1,800. Good so far. But to capture the second tier, he'd need to contribute 5% of his salary, or $3,000. That extra 2% would unlock another $600 in employer money he's currently walking past every single year.
This is the math they hope you never do. That $600 isn't a bonus or a maybe. It's part of his compensation, sitting on the table because his contribution stops one tier too soon. Over a 30-year career, missing $600 a year isn't a $18,000 loss. Invested at a 7% average annual return, those skipped matches compound to roughly $60,000 of retirement wealth that should have been his.
And Marcus is the lucky version. Plenty of people contribute 0% and forfeit the entire match. On his salary with a typical 4% effective match, that's $2,400 a year of free money, gone, every year, forever.
The cruel part is how easy it is to miss. Match formulas are written in tiers and percentages, not dollars, so "100% of the first 3% plus 50% of the next 2%" doesn't obviously translate to "contribute 5% to get every cent." This calculator does that translation. You enter your salary and your plan's match formula, and it tells you the exact contribution percentage and dollar amount needed to capture every dollar your employer is offering, plus what you're currently leaving behind. The employer match is the single highest-return move in personal finance: an instant 50% to 100% return before the market does anything. This tool makes sure you actually claim it.