he has a 401k!

Wednesday, 2:11 pm

By Kate

I planned my day around the quick swoop up to school at noon thirty to take the lad to his internship at the newspaper. It’s right smack in the middle of the day which means everything has to be fitted into either side of that small swoop. As the hour draws near, I don’t want to get too involved in any new projects or what have you. And then I just glanced at the clock to note the hour and realized that there was no internship today. With school starting two hours late, the school day runs out before the internship stint arrives. Phooey. That was a waste of planning.

Incidentally, tax time approaches for those of us who wait until the last minute. This year I have the added bonus of doing taxes for the lad as well. That thrills me to bits. I was just looking over his W2 forms and realized this kid has a 401k. Between August and December his contribution was a mere $16.41, but it’s the whole idea of a 17 year old having a 401k that...well, surprises me. I hadn’t realized he’d signed up for one. More likely he didn’t sign the forms to forgo the experience.

I think we’ll have a talk about this. He’s still contributing a ridiculous $15 per week toward the United Way and it’s starting to hurt. He, in my humble opinion, would be better off cutting that back to put some of it into his 401k since the company matches some portion of the contribution. Evidently he’s currently contributing pocket change to the plan each week. I think that idea will make his eyes glow a little bit. Free money is definitely something he could get into since he has already announced that he intends to be able to retire at age 40 if he so chooses. I love his optimism. But you know, if he starts saving now, it could happen.