[quote=no_such_reality]Good ideas, but let’s talk about the obvious one.
What kind of company has a 401K that you can’t enroll in for more than 6 months? Let alone 18 months. And what are the details around the plan?
If you started this summer, I could maybe see missing some arbitrary 6 months cutoff. Even then, most companies will let you enroll and start contributing to the 401K, you’re just not eligible for match until the 6 month mark.
I’d say take a good long look at the plan, verify the management of it, match, vesting, expense ratios, etc. and most importantly, getting your money out when you leave.[/quote]
Some small/mid size companies do this, for different reasons. It’s not necessarily a indication of the health of the company. And so long as it was disclosed this would be the case, it would be one extra negotiation with the company as part of the compensation package.
The biggest issues I’ve had with my new company’s 401k plan, is the lack of fund selection. I don’t like the available funds they have, since most of them are these “target retirement” fund of funds. And most funds are actively managed funds versus passive indexes. So, the way I dealt this, was pick only the few index funds that my current plan has, and rebalance the rest of my 401k/IRA elsewhere so that I wouldn’t be lopsided. So my current 401k has a lopsided heavy tilt towards large cap blend, mid cap blend indexes, no small cap, no international, and some short term bonds, while as my other accounts have mostly small came, some bonds, and no mid and large cap allocation.
I’m also trying out one of them “robo-advisors” to see when I should rebalance certain things.
