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A Guaranteed Investment

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You know there aren’t many guaranteed investments out there today. But If you are a participant in a defined contribution plan, such as a 401(k), you may have access to one of my favorites. It’s called the company match. The company match is when your employer matches your contribution up to a certain percent. For example, if the company match is 5% and you contribute 5% of your salary, you have a total contribution or savings of 10%. If you save 2% the company matches 2% and your total contribution is only 4%.  As you can see you want to meet that company match each and every year. It’s hard to do. But it’s one of the few guaranteed investments available to you today. Join those that are saving until it hurts (see chart) and imagine how far ahead of the pack you’ll be when you retire.

contribution rates

 

Source: BlackRock Defined Contribution Survey

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E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

Preparing your investments and family for when disaster strikes.
E.J. Smith is the Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH, where he completed course-work in Practical and Defensive Handgun, Conceal Carry Pistol, Shotguns, Precision Scope Rifle and Kidnapping Prevention. E.J. plays a Yamaha Recording Custom drum set with Zilldjian cymbals. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zilldjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West and Paris. Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@youngresearch.com. Sign up here to receive all the best content from Richardcyoung.com each week.