Saving for retirement often feels like a grind, but it takes more than just earning and saving money to reach your goals. You also need to choose where that money goes. The investments you select dictate how quickly your savings grow and how much you pay in fees, and the type of retirement account you use affects when you pay taxes on your funds.
The right retirement savings strategy varies depending on your goals and timeline. But there's one move that's a great call for just about everyone. Hopping on this right away in 2026 could be the best retirement decision you make all year.
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Your 401(k) match is more valuable than it looks
The amount of your 401(k) match depends on your income and your company's matching formula, but it could be thousands of dollars this year. If you get a 100% match on up to 4% of your income and you make $75,000 per year, then you get $3,000 from your employer for contributing $3,000 to your 401(k), bringing your total contributions to $6,000 for the year.
The $3,000 you get when you earn the match is only the tip of the iceberg, though. Say you claimed this match annually. After a decade, you'd have saved $30,000 of your own money for retirement. But your actual 401(k) balance would be nearly $87,000, assuming you earned an 8% average annual return on your investments. The additional funds come from your employer match and investment earnings.
While $87,000 won't be enough to cover all your retirement expenses, the above example illustrates that 401(k) matches can help your nest egg grow much faster than if you were saving on your own. That's why it's worth claiming yours whenever possible, ideally before you start stashing money in other retirement accounts like an IRA or HSA for the year.
How to claim your full 401(k) match in 2026
Every company has its own 401(k) matching formula. Some employers match 100% of your contributions, up to a certain percentage of your income, as in the previous example. Others match 50% of your contributions up to a certain percentage of income.
Figuring out how your company's 401(k) matching formula works is the first step to claiming the entire thing. If you're unsure, you can ask your HR department or consult with your 401(k) plan administrator.
Once you know the total amount you must contribute to get your full match, divide this by the number of pay periods in the year to figure out how much you must defer from each paycheck. For example, if you're paid biweekly and your employer matches 100% of contributions on up to 4% of your $60,000 salary, you'd have to save about $92 from each paycheck to get your full match by the end of the year.
It's totally fine to save more than this if you're able to. But once you've gotten the full match, you may want to step back and ask yourself whether a 401(k) is the best place for your savings. If you want more control over your investments, for example, you might prefer to put some money in an IRA instead. Or if your company only offers a traditional 401(k) but you want some Roth savings, a Roth IRA could be better.
If you're not able to save as much as you need to claim your full 2026 match, that's OK. Figure out what is feasible for you and set that aside. Even getting a portion of your 401(k) match is better than none. If you receive a raise in a few months or your financial circumstances improve otherwise, consider increasing your contributions then to take home a larger portion of your match.
