Damilola Esebame at TheStreet covered Suze Orman's warning about a 401(k) match mistake married couples make, and drew on comments I had made to Money on the same problem. About 1 in 5 couples fail to coordinate their retirement contributions and give up an average of $757 a year in employer match, roughly $14,000 less at 65 for a couple that never fixes it. That is at a time when employer matches hit a record 4.7% of salary in 2025.
My explanation of why it happens: couples think about retirement savings individually, not as a household system. Each spouse sets a contribution rate on their own, often years apart, without looking at the two plans side by side. One spouse may be contributing well past the match while the other is not capturing all of it. Same household, same paycheck pool, free money left on the table.
The fix takes one conversation. Pull both plan documents, find each employer's match formula, and make sure each spouse is contributing at least enough to capture the full match before either of you adds a dollar beyond it. After that, extra contributions can go wherever the tax picture makes most sense.
A match is part of your compensation. Not collecting it is a pay cut you chose.
Read the full article at The Street →
