I'm Struggling with my understanding of my work 401(a)

[AMustachianMurse]

My work has a 3% match.  I changed my contribution amount to 33% so that I would reach the $17,500 max by the end of the year.  When I recently logged in to the account I noticed that the 33% thing that I checked off said "After-Tax Contributions"

Now i'm really confused.  I thought 401(a)s were functionally the same as 401ks, but the fact that it says After-Tax contributions makes me think that I dont know what im talking about.

My 401a is with Fidelity.

[Badass by 41]

I would start by calling Fidelity and speaking with a plan rep.  They should be able to connect you with someone who has access to your plan docs and can explain what they mean.  After that, you should confirm the info the Fidelity rep. gave you with your benefits team.  Hopefully the info is the same in both places.  Often (in my experience) it is not.  But I've got my fingers crossed for you.  8)

[ZiziPB]

Did you mistakenly insert the 33% in the After tax category?  My Fidelity administered 401k has 3 options where you can designate the percentage of contributions: pre-tax, Roth and after-tax.  It could be very easy to get confused and plug in your desired number into the wrong category.  Definitely call the administrator and ask questions.

[AMustachianMurse]

Did you mistakenly insert the 33% in the After tax category?  My Fidelity administered 401k has 3 options where you can designate the percentage of contributions: pre-tax, Roth and after-tax.  It could be very easy to get confused and plug in your desired number into the wrong category.  Definitely call the administrator and ask questions.

Yeah I am going to call them.  There was only one option and it's after-tax contributions which has me sooo confused.

[Gin1984]

Did you mistakenly insert the 33% in the After tax category?  My Fidelity administered 401k has 3 options where you can designate the percentage of contributions: pre-tax, Roth and after-tax.  It could be very easy to get confused and plug in your desired number into the wrong category.  Definitely call the administrator and ask questions.

Yeah I am going to call them.  There was only one option and it's after-tax contributions which has me sooo confused.

That is because any voluntary contributions to a 401(a) are after tax.  Any required contributions are pre-tax.

[rpr]

Can you download and read the brochure?

I have a 401a as well. In my case, it only allows for pre-tax employer contributions. This is a fixed percentage of my salary and no employee contributions are required. Any optional employee contributions (again pre-tax only), go into a separate 403b. It is certainly very confusing.